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Tradespeople will be able to carry out repairs and maintenance work inside people’s homes during the two-week ‘fire-break’ lockdown in Wales, after the Welsh government reversed a decision earlier this week to limit repairs to emergency work only.
Updated guidance published by the Welsh government today states that work can be carried out in people’s homes “as long as it is managed in a safe way and both the worker and household members are well and have no symptoms of coronavirus”.
However, the government recommends that people take into consideration whether the work can be safely deferred until after the lockdown.
It comes two days after the Welsh government published guidance that banned non-urgent repairs and maintenance work inside homes during the lockdown period, which will begin on Friday and end on 9 November.
Earlier today the Federation of Master Builders Cymru called on the government to provide clarity as it claimed that at one stage this morning the advice contained contradictory information about whether repairs could be carried out.
It appears that the guidance has since been updated again to clarify the government’s position that repairs and maintenance work can continue as long as it is carried out safely.
The guidance also recommends that no work should be carried out in households where someone is isolating, unless it is to repair a fault that poses a direct risk to people’s safety.
In such an instance, Public Health Wales can provide advice to tradespeople and households with regards to additional precautions that should be taken.
No work should be carried out by tradespeople who have symptoms of coronavirus, however mild they may be.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: "We have worked hard to ensure initial information was published for businesses and industry as soon as an announcement was made. The FAQs is a live document and will be updated regularly.”
Wales is the second UK nation to introduce new temporary nationwide lockdown measures after Northern Ireland entered a four-week lockdown last week.
In both Scotland and England, restrictions continue to be put in place on a regional basis.
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