New £800 fines for holding house parties during COVID

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have announced they’re ready to hand out the new £800 house party fines following an increase in reports.

Yesterday (Thursday 21 January) the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, announced an increase in the fine for anyone attuning a house party of 15 or more people to £800, which double for each repeat offence up to a maximum of £6,400. The fines will be introduced next week.

GMP say that, while the majority of people are doing their best in following the regulations, they’ve received an increase in reports regarding house parties and other COVID breaches. 

Last weekend saw the highest number of reports, excluding New Year’s Eve, since last August. In that time they handed out 190 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN), of which 87 were in relation to house parties. Compared to the same period last month there has been a 16% increase.

Councillor Nigel Murphy, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “It is extremely frustrating that despite every warning we are still seeing people break rules. I appreciate how difficult it has been for everyone over the past year but this is not an excuse to put people’s lives at risk. 

“We are working with our colleagues at Greater Manchester Police as well as local housing providers to prevent, and if necessary, punish breaches of Covid-19 guidelines. We have the power to close properties for up to six months and prevent people from entering; this is something we have done before and will not hesitate to do again. 

“The Covid vaccine is being rolled out in greater numbers by the day, a sign that one day we will soon be back to living normal lives. But, we are still faced with extremely high rates of Covid infection and sadly, further deaths. I implore people to do the right thing by staying at home, and not put themselves at risk of catching this virus.”