Shoppers without face masks risk £100 fine as Government moves to make coverings mandatory

Face coverings will become mandatory in shops and supermarkets, with fines of up to £100 for anyone who fails to adhere to the new rules, the Government will announce on Tuesday.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, will confirm that Government guidance is being updated to make the wearing of face coverings in shops and supermarkets in England compulsory from July 24.

The announcement came after days of confusion, with Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, and Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, making apparently contradictory statements about whether face coverings should be mandatory in shops.

The rules will mean the current guidance requiring masks to be worn on public transport in England will be extended to cover shops and supermarkets.  

Government sources said ministers would monitor the situations and could introduce similar guidance for other settings in future. The changes will follow measures introduced in Scotland, where face coverings have been mandatory in shops since last week.  

The Government's decision also brings the UK into line with much of Europe, where face coverings have been required in shops in Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece for weeks. 

The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 will be amended to allow police to issue fines of up to £100 to people who fail to wear a face covering in shops and supermarkets.

Children under 11 years old and those with "certain disabilities" will be exempt.

A Number 10 spokesman said: "There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus.

"The Prime Minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops, and we will make this mandatory from July 24."

The new rules will be enforced by the police, not shop workers, who should instead "should encourage compliance", officials said.

That came after James Daunt, the managing director of bookshop chain Waterstones, said on Monday that it "would not be right" to ask staff to enforce the rule because there was "a tiny, tiny minority of people who will be confrontational over it".

On Monday, a spokesman for the National Police Chiefs' Council, which represents top police officers,  said: "Once we have full details of the new legislation, we will issue police officers with guidance on their role in enforcement."

The policy change came shortly after official figures showed the UK coronavirus daily death toll increased by 11 to 44,830 – the lowest 24-hour rise since mid-March.

The Government has advised the public to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces like shops, where they will be with people they would not usually meet, since May 11.

Scientific studies have shown that wearing face coverings over the mouth and nose may reduce the risk of an infected person passing the virus on to someone else.

Last week, the World Health Organisation said there was "emerging evidence" that Covid-19 could be spread through particles in the air, and Venki Ramakrishnan, the president of the Royal Society, said everyone should wear a face covering in all public places.

Mr Johnson appeared to be moving towards making them compulsory on Friday when he said the Government had "to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces".

However he was then apparently contradicted by Mr Gove, who said on Sunday that it was "best to trust people's common sense" rather than force them to adopt coverings.

The Prime Minister attempted to clarify the position on a visit to the London Ambulance Service on Monday, saying: "I think people should be wearing [face coverings] in shops.

"And, in terms of how we do that, whether we make it mandatory or not, we'll be looking at the guidance – we'll be saying a little bit more in the next few days. As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again."

Mr Johnson added: "Throughout this crisis people have shown amazing sensitivity towards other people and understanding of the needs to get the virus down by doing things cooperatively.

"Wearing masks is one of them... It's a mutual thing; people do see the value of it. We'll be looking in the next few days about exactly how – with what tools of enforcement – we think we want to make progress."

The new policy marks the completion of an about-turn on face coverings which has taken months, with ministers and officials insisting in March that they were of little help in fighting the virus.

Separately, Baroness Vere of Norbiton, a transport minister, warned of a "ramping up'' of enforcement action against passengers on public transport who refuse to put on face coverings.

Figures from the British Transport Police showed that, since face coverings became mandatory on trains and buses on June 15, 18,000 people have been warned about a failure to wear a face covering, with 800 told to leave services and eight people given £100 fines.

Transport for London said it had warned 10,000 customers and given out 14 fines, saying compliance was running at around 90 per cent.

Describing enforcing the rules as an "incredibly delicate balance", Lady Vere hinted that an unofficial grace period was over.

She said: "At the moment, we are looking at engagement rather than enforcement, although we are ramping up enforcement because we feel that people have had enough time for this message to sink in."

Business leaders called for clarity on the new rules as soon as possible. General Josh Hardie, CBI deputy director, said: "This will help if it reduces infection and rebuilds confidence. Firms will do all they can and continued transparency on the health evidence will drive behaviour change.

"Businesses will support the action but want to understand monitoring and enforcement so shop workers aren't put in difficult positions."

Claire Walker, the co-executive director at the British Chambers of Commerce, added: "Shops and other indoor businesses need to know what the new rules are as soon as possible.

"Updated guidance, including on enforcement, should be issued swiftly so firms can maintain their Covid-secure status and continue their operations successfully."

Separately, commuters appeared to have ignored calls from Mr Johnson and Mr Gove to return to work, with Network Rail saying passenger numbers did not rise far above 20 per cent of pre-Covid levels – around 900,000 passengers – on Monday.