Guidance on the law around events in England has been clarified today. Below is a summary of the new regulation guidance.
Anyone organising a dig where they are planning to have more than 6 in attendance (including staff) will be running an event. So this means, as an example, that anyone planning to have 12 people even on two fields will be running an event.
Only a registered business or a charity can organise an event. Charities are defined below.
Where an event takes place all attendees must be kept in groups of no more than 6 (unless from the same household). This means that the organiser must ensure all groups of 6 do not mingle at any time.
Event organisers must be covid secure and comply with track and trace legislation and the other event regulations, including liaising with local authorities, etc.
Full guidance is in the links in the below. Please ensure you read the guidance fully.
Note all this guidance is backed by legislation in schedule 22 of the Coronavirus Act 2020. The police have legal powers to disperse groups of more than 6 and issue a £100 penalty ticket to individuals (£50 if paid within 14 days). This doubles with every extra offence, rising to £3,200 for six or more offences.
Additionally, organisers of illegal gatherings in England can be fined £10,000.
Charities are defined, in the regulations, as:
(d) a “charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution” means—
(i) a charity, or
(ii) an institution, other than a charity, established for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes
Only organisations that have been established just for charitable purposes are therefore eligible. We must stress that anyone who is unsure should seek their own legal advice, although we are happy to answer questions via email where we can.
We are seeking additional guidance for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and will post updates as this clarification is given to us.
Full guidance can be found here:
