Tier 4 - can I form a support bubble and go stay with my parents?

[yellowtail1]

I live in London with my DH and our 10 week old baby. Can we go and stay with my parents (who live in a tier 2 area) over Christmas by forming a support bubble and if so, how long could we stay with them for? Sorry if this is a stupid question - my head is all over the place and I’m just so confused. Can anyone help?

I had bad PND after having my child and I have thought a lot this year about how mums are coping, without the support I relied on to get through it. It would be great if people on these threads had a bit more compassion and didn’t take every excuse to try and be superior.

Jesus effing Christ sick of reading corona police on here are you all being paid to kiss Boris arse? Why the hell are people not furious?? Two days ago he said absolutely not cancelling the Christmas bubbles and now he has it's an utter utter joke. This is not public fault this is horrendous miss management yet again from an incompetent bunch of twats!

Op yes you can as you have a dc under 2 I wouldn't waste your breath posting on here to ask because the gestapo are out in force!

Is it allowed? Yes.

Should you? I think it depends on if you genuinely need support. If you feel that you do, by all means go. If you're just using the fact that your entitled to form a support bubble to have a better Christmas but you'd be fine at home, then stay put.

@yellowtail1

You are not allowed to stay overnight away from your home, whether on holiday, in a second home or caravan, or with anyone you do not live with, or are in a support bubble with.

So I’ve now just seen this on the BBC website. It’s so contradictory!

Not very clearly worded I agree, but it is saying you cannot stay overnight with anyone you don't live or bubble with. So you CAN stay overnight with your bubble and with people you live with

I am furious with Boris. He’s a bungling test who has mismanaged the situation in about four hundred different ways.

That doesn’t change the public health situation. We are in a really serious situation.

If you're in tier 3 and have a baby inner 1, you can form a support bubble. I would leave now in case g they don't carry this exception through to tier 4

Is there a reason why you hadn’t created a support bubble before?

Do you need support? You are a 2 parent household in tier 4, so don't travel unless absolutely essential.

Why would you put your parents at risk? That's pretty selfish, don't you think?

Can you? Yes I believe you can.
Should you? I guess that comes down to your own moral compass. I would only be travelling from tier 4 to tier 2 if I were in absolute desperate need.

@allispretty being furious with politicians doesn't make any difference to whether I will infect my loved ones, so I'll cook a roast chicken at home with ds and stay put.

What I think of BJ would breach Mumsnet rules

I wish people would check their facts! If you got out before tomorrow morning, I think that would be OK, but that depends on whether the support bubbles are going to be honoured.

I'm waiting for further clarification on this as I'm in a support bubble with my mum's household (I'm my DP's carer. He has a terminal brain tumour and is completely bed bound so I've also recently been covered by the: you are the only adult in your household who does not need continuous care as a result of a disability clause - thought I'd get that in before the MN Head Girls pipe up). In the statement, Boris said that those most at risk of isolation could mix in their support by bubble - who knows whether that includes all previous bubble criteria?

So you have a husband and baby to spend Christmas with but want to fake a temporary support bubble to have a nice Christmas. That's not what they are for!!! I have stuck to the rules, not done stuff that's allowed as I don't think it's safe and now will be alone Xmas day but yeah go ahead and risk spreading it even more.

OP - Please ignore all the hate here! I totally get where you are coming from.

I have a support bubble with my family 100 miles away, however not managed to see them yet due to husbands work and was waiting for his time off over Christmas. Not seen anyone since March, and no-one nearby for support.
I think people should stop judging. Support bubbles for those with babies is recent, and a lot of people would have waited for the so called Christmas rule changes to then see people, to be on the safe side and now those plans have obviously changed.

OP- I wish you, your family and bubba a merry Christmas.

Lots of incorrect info but I suspect that this is because people are annoyed at their plans changing.

You can form a support bubble with your parents but they have to be the only ones that you form a support bubble with. They can't be in a support bubble with anyone else eg their parents or your sibling

You can stay overnight with them whenever you need support. It can be one night or 5.

@Mintjulia Skockingly, 2 people in a household may also need support, and OP sound slike she definitely qualifies.

OP, don't ask question here, most people don;t seem to be able to read or know the restrictions, and are miserable and want other people to also be miserable.

So you didn’t need a support bubble ysterday but now you suddenly do?

I feel for everyone in tier4 but there is a need to. Think rationally. They haven’t made this decision lightly.

Yes, you can form a support bubble as you have child the right age, and thus you are allowed to travel from tier 4.
It is essential travel because it is a "support" bubble. Why are people so obtuse?

Honestly, the people who said you are "suddenly" claiming you need a support bubble, are missing the point. Yes, it is exactly because you have put up with restrictions this far that you DEFINITELY need "support", and probably your parents need to see YOU and baby TOO.

According to the rules you can but unless you actually need support I think you shouldn't. How would you feel if you travelled to your parents from tier 4 and were incubating the virus and thus transferred to mutation to them and their locality?

Having said that I think it wholly unacceptable that BJ sanctified the right to a family Christmas on Wednesday when we already knew there was a mutant virus and now has done this.

Having said that we launched into Tier three at 12.01 this morning. DD and I took the opportunity to have an early dinner in our local town. We were horrified at 6.30pm to see the queues outside Wetherspoons for the last "fling". On that basis I understand the short notice because so much harm would be done if West End shops were open tomorrow and everyone descended on Oxford Street as they probably would have.

Having said that I think BJ has underestimated the planning and saving that ordinary people put into Christmas and there will be countless families with an £80 turkey on order for lunch for 10 when they now only need a crown roast for £20. The marginal difference between £20 and £80 is huge for some families and I think it is shameful there is no ignorance of that. Also thT there will be lots of couples with young children who were literally banking on mum and dad funding a lovely Christmas day and whose budgets do not extend to the extra £60 to lay it on. Incomparable to life and death I know but the lived reality for many people. Someone remind me of the statistical likelihood of a) getting Covid or its variant or b) dying as a result? Something like 0.064% I think.

Go. Be with your family.

OP absolutely qualifies for a support bubble, but I don’t know how the new tier 4 rule applies to that

It doesn't, support bubbles are explicitly excluded from the new rules, however if you planned to use the extended Christmas bubbling that is largely abandoned. Support bubbles don't have to be formed within local areas and can travel.

You are also exempt from the travel rules if traveling for education or work or caring responsibilities.

In practice everyone I know providing a support bubble for lonely and vulnerable people restricts their contacts as far as possible to ensure they can provide that support safely.

The extremely clinically vulnerable can also form support bubbles but have extra advice around avoiding infection. Unpaid/family carers have also been exempted (but you can't suddenly start a caring role to get around the rules).

its all been a shit show of leadership and management. Confusing, changing and conflicting rules which even the cabinet regularly got wrong when interviewed. Each late change was blamed on "science" which was ignored when inconvenient (like opening pubs because people are so observant of rules after a few drinks, telling people to go back into offices when they could work remotely).

The new variant of the virus has been well documented for weeks now, its not new information and this decision could and should have been made much earlier.

And having said that . Cognizance not ignorance (apols - on phone).

Roll on Easter and if Boris fucks that up I'll take some pieces of silver.

Yes, you are allowed to go and stay with your parents as you have a baby. Please do go and look after yourself

If you need support then YANBU

My son rushed to pack and jump on a train so he can be home in our tier 2 area before midnight... very stressful couple of hours 🙈