England lockdown end date confusion: Did government 'mess up?'

As England's national coronavirus lockdown comes to an end, non-essential businesses are able to reopen in a final rush to make money before Christmas.

However, confusion over government information about the rules means some businesses are keeping their doors closed for another 24 hours.

Becky Dewar, who owns the Hare and Hounds in Levens, Cumbria, started furiously working towards a 3 December reopening date as soon as the four-week lockdown was announced, because "it takes two weeks to shut a pub and two weeks to open a pub".

After almost three weeks of cleaning up, filling out furlough paperwork for her 30 staff, managing the pub's finances and saving what stock she could, Becky realised that government guidance said she would in fact be able to reopen when England's new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions came into effect on Wednesday 2 December - a day earlier than she had been expecting.

With only nine days to go, it was too late for Becky, 40, to bring the reopening date forward - her staff rota was finalised and everything else had been geared towards opening on Thursday. The pub's takings on a normal Wednesday in December would be up to £2,000, but Becky is matter-of-fact about losing out on a day's trading. "When you've been shut for 130 days in a year, 131 is... [just] one day," she said.

"If we'd mucked up the date by a week we would have crossed mountains to correct our mistake and sort it out, but a day in the whole scheme of how this year's worked out… these things are drops in the ocean," she said.

Becky said the mix-up was probably her own oversight, adding that pubs do not get any direct communication from the government about what Covid rules mean. "You just go online and Google around, you read through the government website like everyone else does," she said.

However, Becky is not the only one to be reopening a day later than she needs to - and it may be because of inconsistent information from the government, rather than because people have misread the rules.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has not yet responded to a request to explain why a Cabinet Office document said lockdown measures would apply "up to and including 2 December" - suggesting they would end at some point on 3 December - whereas a DHSC document said the new tiered system would come into effect "from the beginning of Wednesday 2 December".

The DHSC told the BBC that the new tiered system coming into effect from 00:01 on 2 December would supersede lockdown regulations, and that it had always been the intention of the government to introduce new rules "on 2 December".

If Phil Pinder doesn't manage to reopen his drinks business in York tomorrow he could lose up £1,000 in potential sales.

Phil, 43, who owns a "magical drinks emporium" called The Potions Cauldron, will work through the night to try to get stock ready to open on Wednesday, instead of Thursday as he had initially arranged.

He said his small team's last-minute dash to avoid losing a day's trade is a result of contradictory information from the government.

"When they changed the new tier system, the [government] website said these rules come into force from the start of play on 2 December, but that the national lockdown restrictions will still play out in full.

"Then it linked to the previous lockdown rules, which said the lockdown will end at midnight on 2 December. That still exists on the government website. I think they messed up," Phil said.

Phil, whose shop's popular items include bottled "serpent's venom" and "unicorn essence", said his rushed reopening is down to the government "messing about" with lockdown end dates.

"We've got orders going out for wholesale, people now want their stock a day early and things like that - so it's having real consequences," he added.

If Phil's courier can deliver stock to him earlier than planned, the seven-strong team of shop workers will work "really long" hours to try to get the shop open on Wednesday. "It's a very important time of year - we don't want to miss out," he said.

Moving on to another business owner called Phil, Phil Townend is hastily preparing to reopen his barbers in Leeds because lockdown is ending a day earlier than he had been expecting.

He only brought forward his reopening date a few days ago and hasn't managed to fill half of the available appointments yet - so is "relying on last-minute people" booking a haircut on Wednesday.

"We're not going to lose thousands of pounds on haircuts in one day - there's only two of us," Phil said - adding that he had to cut a third staff member's job at the end of the first national lockdown.

But Phil, 48, added he has generally been happy with the way the government has set out rules for businesses. "It's been confusing at times but by and large I've understood what's going on."

Another business person, who wanted to remain anonymous, runs a bowling alley in south-east England and said it was "mentally exhausting" to have to keep up with what he felt were last-minute changes to the rules set out by the government.

His business will lose a day of trading as a result of having to open on Thursday, not Wednesday.

"The leisure industry isn't a tap you can turn on and off at a moment's notice," he said.

"Stock goes out of date. Customers are scared to book because we keep having to open and close all the time, seemingly at a whim.

"The short term-ism does nobody any favours and whilst I completely agree and understand that the virus needs containing, we have been left out to dry and treated like second-class citizens."

However, some businesses have had time to bring forward their opening times - and are celebrating the extra day of trading.

"Christmas has truly come early," the restaurant chain Pizza Express said in a tweet as it announced that it would be moving its reopening date from 3 December to 2 December.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said there had been some confusion among the trade association's members about when their businesses could reopen but the government had since clarified it to would be from 00:01 GMT on 2 December.

"Over the past nine months, the flow of information from the government has been slow and lacking in clarity," she added.

"Businesses have had to react to announcements regarding opening, closures and changing of restrictions at short notice.

"It has been a theme of this year that businesses have not been given adequate warning about changes that impact their operation."

Mike Cherry, national chair at the Federation for Small Businesses, added that the frequent changes to lockdown rules meant it was "no surprise" that there was "frustration, anxiety and confusion in the business community".