National lockdown - is this allowed?

[MadamFlutterby]

I'm a bit confused here, bear with me.

Before lockdown 1, we had arranged for some landscaping work to be done in our garden - this was put on hold in March when lockdown happened.

When things eased up, we agreed a date for the guy to come along to re-quote/re-familiarise himself with the work needed etc. He is due to come on Monday to do this.

So heres my confusion - the lockdown rules stay stay at home/work from home if you reasonably can. Does this mean he is allowed to come to my garden, stand outside and do the re-quote? What about the work itself? Can he do this? Its about a 3-4 week job - obviously he'd need a portaloo and there us no need to come into the house.

I'm thinking we need to push back again?

Yes he's still allowed. Cleaners can still clean houses too! Just observe sensible precautions.

No don’t push back. He’s allowed to come. My cleaners are still coming. They were always allowed to come even in the first lockdown but didn’t. The first date you set was only put on hold because of the uncertainty.

Yes it's all allowed.

He can't work from home, therefore he is allowed to work outside of his home. Which means he can work in your garden.

If he was coming for a social visit, that wouldn't be allowed, but he's not, he's working which is fine

He's allowed to come as there's no way to do landscaping from home. Technically I think he could have done it in the first lockdown, but most tradespeople and customers were been more careful so decided to delay. A year later he probably cannot afford to lose any more of his income so will work until legaly stopped. If your comfortable that you can minimise risk (easy enough with outside work) then let him come. You stay inside and if you need to discuss anything either mask up and distance or phone call from inside.

Yes he can. I agree with getting a portaloo if possible as IMO the risk to you/him is really if he comes inside.

It clearly says in the guidance that if you can't work from home you can go to work, including if your work is in other people's homes.

Yes, he can do it

Yes he can work and quote. I am self employed, and these times are very worrying. He needs the work!

In reality you don't need to go anywhere near him, so I'd let.him come and earn a few bob.

Gardeners were allowed under the first lockdown to keep working.

The guidance clearly states that tradespeople and cleaners are allowed to still go to people's homes

Yeah we have s gardener coming round next Friday. They need the cash, I need the garden sorting... Anything that keeps the economy moving presently is needed.

It’s fine, don’t put him off unless you really feel you need to shield. You won’t even need to go near him.

I’m having outdoor building work done in a few weeks, they will need to be able to access my hallway just inside my front door but I’m not concerned. I can stay out of their way and I’m not bothering with a portaloo as we have a downstairs loo which is conveniently right next to the door so they can use that.

I plan to offer them hot drinks and will just put them on a tray in the hallway as to me that’s no different than a takeaway coffee but I may also just leave them with the kettle and teabags etc.

Definitely still allowed, my garden remodel lasted the entire of the last lockdown! They reduced the number of workers on site so they could social distance so it took longer but it got done. I think being outside is fairly low risk for them, and they couldn’t work from home.

OK thankyou everyone.

We are keen to get the work done and equally keen to employ him.

We will set up an outside kitchen area fir him to make teas and coffees etc and will get a portaloo as unfortunately we don't dave a downstairs loo.

Not garden work but we had a new extension built, they started in August and finished in December so through lockdown 2 and we were in tier 3 as well. I had a full complement of builders everyday, at least 3 on site most days and sometimes up to 8 or 9. We just kept our distance as best we could.