Can kids see school friends at weekends?

[MrsAvocet]

I thought I had kept up with the rules pretty well so far but I've lost the plot now I think. My elder son wants to go roind to a friend's house this weekend to play a game that a few of them are into. There's 4 of them but they are all from different families so I've said it isn't allowed as they are from more than 2 households.
He's really fed up, as they are in the same school year so have spent hours together this week and he can't see what difference it makes. I feel rotten, especially as his younger sibling has been out with both school friends and people from other schools at sports clubs this week, but I am pretty sure I shouldn't let him go as this is a social meeting of more than 2 households. Have I got that right? We're in England by the way, but not a local lockdown area.

Any 6 people can gather so long as they observe social distancing. No limit on households.

Logic says of course they should all be able to see each other.....but the rules aren’t really logical.

I have no idea.

Can be from 6 different households

The only thing to remember is that it's 6 indoors and outdoors

Rule of 6 now so as long as no more than that in the house .

4 boys and 2 parents would be fine.

So maybe depends if there other siblings taking it over 6?

As long as there are no more than six people meeting up it's legal. The government did previously advise that no more than two households should meet up indoors, but has changed to a legally binding "rule of six" in order to keep things simple.

Great. Thanks everyone. I'd obviously got confused over the 2 households thing. The host has no siblings so should be ok. Not sure if the parents will be home or not (the boys are sixth formers - I'm not being negligent!) but even if they are it will be maximum of 6. That's good news. DS is very shy and this is about the only social thing he does so I didn't want to ban it really. I didn't actually think it was any more risky than being at school together or on the bus, but didn't want to be encouraging him to break the law, or to get the parents in trouble. With all this encouragement for people to report neighbours you have to be a bit careful!