Coronavirus Act 2020 - Overview

Addition: 3 April 2020 - College of Policing Guidance on the Coronavirus Act 2020

On 25 March 2020 the Coronavirus Bill received Royal Assent and became the Coronavirus Act 2020. It is a highly complex and multifaceted Act of 102 sections and 29 Schedules which passed all its parliamentary stages in just 4 days.

Details relating to the Bill as it passed through Parliament are available at Bill documents - Coronavirus Act 2020.  The government issued Explanatory Notes when the Bill was introduced into the House of Commons and also when the Bill went to the House of Lords.

Aims:

The Act has 3 main aims
- (a) to give further powers to government to slow the spread of the virus, (b) to reduce the burdens on public bodies, and (c) to limit the impact on public services of potential staffing shortages.

Convention rights:

On 19 March, the Secretary of State made a statement of compatibility under section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998 that, in his view, the Bill was compatible with convention rights.

Other legislation:

The Act is in addition to subordinate legislation made under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 - discussed in the previous post.

Provisions relating to commencement, expiry, and scrutiny by parliament:

The Coronavirus Act came into force on 25 March 2020 with the exceptions of those provisions listed in section 87(2) which require commencement orders.

Section 88 gives a "relevant national authority" power to suspend or revive provisions of the Act.

By section 89, the Act will expire at the end of the period of 2 years beginning with the day on which it is passed but this expiry does not apply to those provisions listed in section 89(2).   Section 89(3)  states that a Minister of the Crown may by regulations make transitional, transitory or saving provision in connection with the expiry of any provision of the Act.

Section 90 gives power to alter the expiry date of any provision in the Act either to an earlier date or to a date up to 6 months later.

Section 97 requires the Secretary of State to prepare and publish reports on the status of the provisions of Part 1 of the Act

Section 98 provides for 6 monthly parliamentary reviews.

Section 100 sets out the extent to which the Act applies in each of the four nations of the UK.

The Act is replete with powers enabling the making of subordinate legislation much of which will, in practice, receive only minimal parliamentary scrutiny. The output of subordinate legislation emanating from this Act is likely to be massive - extending to thousands of pages.


A look at some of the main provisions:

It is beyond the scope of this blogpost to seek to examine the entire Act but, by way of illustrating the extensive legal changes it introduces, certain areas are noted below.  This post concludes with links to other commentaries on the Act and further links will be added if and when they come to notice.

Healthcare:

Coronavirus Act 2020 section 14 and section 15 (and Schedule 12).  Section 15 and Schedule 12 require commencement orders to bring them into force. Commencement Order No.2 brought section 15 and Part 1 of Schedule 12 in force on 31 March 2020.

The Explanatory Notes explain -

These changes have caused considerable concern as discussed at Community Care 22 March 2020 and at Human Rights Watch - Covid 19 law puts rights of people with disabilities at risk.

Food supply:

Coronavirus Act 2020 sections 25 to 29 and also Schedule 15. [These sections and the Schedule require commencement orders to bring them into force].

Potentially infected persons:

Section 51 and Schedule 21.  At this point it is worth noting that Schedule 21 revoked The Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/129). Those regulations were made on 10 February 2020 under powers in the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984. On that date the Secretary of State was of the opinion that, by reason of urgency, it was necessary to make the regulations without a draft having been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament. The 1984 Act provides for that emergency process - section 45R.

The Explanatory Notes to the Coronavirus Act state -

Directions in relation to events, gatherings and premises:

Section 52 and Schedule 22.

Courts and tribunals:

Coronanvirus Act 2020 sections 53 to 57

Links:

Institute for Government 23 March - The Coronavirus Bill: extraordinary legislation for extraordinary times

Institute for Government - CoronavirusAct 2020 

UK Human Rights Blog 26 March - Coroners' Inquests and COVID 19

Addition: 3 April 2020 - College of Policing Guidance on the Coronavirus Act 2020

Addition: 4 April 2020 - 5 Essex Court - Coronavirus: A Guide for Police Forces

Note:

As the Coronavirus pandemic developed I wrote a number of posts which were essentially updates and an attempt to keep abreast of relevant legislation in what was a quickly changing landscape. I have now removed those posts from the blog since what matters at this stage is the latest information.