Can she come from Scotland to England?

[Crowncan]

I am pregnant and due in January and I live in England. My sister is furloughed for the foreseeable future and lives in Scotland in her own (and is not in a support bubble with anyone). She has isolated for 14 days and was planning to drive down to us tomorrow and move in for a couple of months to help look after my toddler for the birth and for the 4-6 weeks after that I will need some help because I’m planning an elective C section. She was going to come now to spend Christmas with us and so that my DD could get used to having her around to be happy being looked after by her auntie as she can be quite clingy to DH and I. We don’t have anyone local we could ask for this kind of help. Does this come under essential childcare? She is going to drive here to minimise any contact so there is a chance she could get stopped at the border and I don’t want her to get in trouble because of us.

The police are NOT doing roadblocks. She won't be stopped at the border.

No she cannot go from Scotland to England. Whilst they are not doing roadblocks they certainly are stopping cars at random and may well send her back if they find her trying to get into England.

Yes she can come. This is one of the exceptions. You can form a support bubble with another lone adult (with or without their own kids) and act as if you are one household. I know this well as I am in wales and have formed a support bubble with a friend in England so frequently travel over the border.
You can only form one bubble and it must be exclusive. Sounds like you need your sister. Get her to yours.

Yes she can come, and should. She can explain why she's travelling if asked but I doubt she will be.
Anybody who thinks the ops sister should stay at home along when she is needed in the South AND has isolated needs to get a severe grip of themself.

Thanks all. I have just had a horrible feeling that other people’s Christmases are being ripped apart and it would be wrong of us to go ahead with our plans as we weren’t seeing anyone else anyway. But we do have a legitimate reason for her coming and she won’t just be bubbling with us- she will be joining our household. She can always stay longer if the rules seal off her return travel.

People are still allowed to move house, which is effectively what she is doing.

She can travel to form a support bubble, and for childcare reasons. Get her to yours.

I would stress that she is moving in with you if she’s stopped (which I very much doubt she will be).

Last week DH went up to Scotland to fetch his mum and move her into his sister’s house so she can stay with them for the next few months (she’s also having a baby!). We considered it a ‘moving house’ exemption.

Thank you all. I’m relieved this isn’t turning into a ‘you aren’t special, stay the hell at home’ thread. I’m also keen for her to get here now as we are currently in tier 2 but if we dipped into tier 4 it might cause even more issues her coming here.

Certainly in England single adults can form a support bubble w another family, and from what PP poster says it works across the border.

The police aren’t going to stop her. There is a fair bit of hysteria / wilful infliction of misery in some of the replies on these threads.

As she comes under support bubble I don’t think your tiers matter, but best have her down swiftly I’d say (before it does change!)

Yes she can and should. Good luck with everything.

Yes she definitely should!
My only worry would be the furlough thing, is her job doable from home? I thought furlough meant you had to be ready to work when they need you (although she obviously will know more about when she is likely to be needed based on her job!)

^this.

She is on furlough not a holiday. She needs to be available.

Get her down to you ASAP

Depending on her industry it might be a while before she's able to get back to work, things like softplay and theaters have been closed in Scotland since March unlikely to open anytime soon.

I said furloughed to simplify her situation- she is freelance in an industry which has pretty much ground to a halt. The jobs she had lined up have paid her and she has received some extra funding money from a grant (or something like that!) so she is waiting for this industry to start back up again before she can start to pick up work again. If she can start work again then it will mean the pandemic is largely over so will be fine for her to travel back to Scotland.