Are we allowed 7 people in our house in different rooms?

[Firefliess]

DSD and her BF have come to stay this weekend. We also have DD and DSS and me and DH at home, so that makes 6 of us. DD wants her BF to stay over tomorrow night. I can't figure out whether that's allowed or not. It would mean 7 people in the house, but in no sense would we be "gathering" DD and her BF would get in late and go straight to her room. Rest of us probably we wouldn't even see him. Is that allowed? Or are people considered to be "gathering" simply by being in the same house? We're in England by the way and not in an area with any local lockdown

Maybe learn to count?

Where a group includes someone covered by such an exception (for example, someone who is working), they are not counted as part of the gatherings limit. This means, for example, a tradesperson can go into a household of six without breaching the limit, if they are there for work.

Would this mean that if 6 people lived in a house but two of them were working, those two wouldn't count as part of the gathering, of does this only refer to tradespeople?

Also, if your family is 7, can children who live with you part of the year come home? Eg in October?

I'm quoting from a letter to the Financial Times that points out;

'it is illegal for seven children to feed ducks but legal for 30 men to shoot ducks'

I expect shooting requires you to be fairly spaced out.

@Mumisnotmyonlyname

What if you household is 6 people to start with? Does it mean nobody can ever visit?

I feel like I should know the answer but I don't.

Yes if all 6 of you are home noone can visit.

The government try to simplify things by making it the rule of 6 and people still don’t get it. 6 is 6. 7 is not 5 if two stay in one room! I wish people would stop trying to twist the rules to suit.

Someone has asked a question 'is it legal to do this?'

If you reply by pointing to the guidance, then your answer is 'no, you should not do this, the guidance says x'. That is probably, in most situations, a good enough answer and a good enough rule to live by.

BUT it does NOT answer the question 'is it legal?'

To do that, you need to look to the law.

Guidance is not law.

I fully support everyone saying 'don't, because we want the virus to stop'.

But it is not an answer to the question 'Is it legal'.

So if people are saying no it is not legal, could you please point to the law to explain your answer?

@Pobblebonk you carry on finding loopholes and justification for allowing 7 when the rule is 6 and I'll carry on following a simple rule.

One thing to bear in mind is that when you take a risk for yourself with covid, you are also increasing the risk for everyone else. To put it crudely, you are increasing the chance of my parents dying.

@Whydoyouthinkthatthen

This is from the BBC website ...

'Social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in England from Monday - with some exemptions - amid a steep rise in coronavirus cases.'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54081131

@Itisbetter

I expect shooting requires you to be fairly spaced out.

Not at all. Hunting is exempt from the rule of 6.

Here is the law....

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/684/contents

The legislation nor the guidance answers ops question

@emptyshelvesagain so when you go shooting do you stand shoulder to shoulder or are you spaced out?
When you feed ducks you generally are quite close to each other.

so when you go shooting do you stand shoulder to shoulder or are you spaced out?
When you feed ducks you generally are quite close to each other.

I am not sure why you are asking?

I was just clarifying the exemption

@Scarlettpixie don't be silly. I'm asking for clarification, not twisting anything. I support the government rules, actually.

So I’ve just looked at both the guidance and the legislation and they refer to more than 6 people not being allowed to ‘meet’ (guidance) or ‘gather’ (legislation). Nothing about not being allowed more than 6 people within the same building.

So my interpretation of that is it’s fine to have more than 6 people in a house providing no more than 6 see each other. So I wouldn’t count eg kids asleep in bed as part of a gathering.

Exactly Bubbins

Although I don't know why people are just going on about whether there are more than 6 people and completely ignoring the part about whether or not the people present count as being part of the gathering when 'gathering' is clearly defined in the regulations and there is clearly scope for people to legitimately not be counted towards the six/more than 6.

Equally @emptyshelvesagain I pointed out it was a different level of contact than feeding ducks because a pp seemed under the impression it was a similar pastime.

I would just do it!
It's only 1 more, and no one is going to know that there was a 7th person there.

Are people following the rules any more?
I don't know anyone that is following them any more (but then I do live in an area that has had barely any cases).

Yes, the lawyers are right on the thread. Just read the law and of course you can have a tradesman into the house even if you have 20 children! Just as if they are asleep upstairs you can have 2 couples over for dinner downstairs.

That’s my understanding of the legislation too and dhs.

@tornadoalley

Maybe learn to count?

Maybe learn to read the legislation, including the definition of "gathering"? Or even just read this thread?

[quote REDLIPSTICKANDNAILS]@Pobblebonk you carry on finding loopholes and justification for allowing 7 when the rule is 6 and I'll carry on following a simple rule.[/quote]
Look at the actual wording of the legislation and tell me whether you can really claim that OP is not following the rule.

Alternatively, of course, feel free to knock yourself out following a non-existent rule.

Haven’t read all comments so don’t know if it’s been asked but what if you have 5 kids? Does husband have to go live in the shed??we have 4 so no visitors for us!

The answer is no!