Coronavirus Recovery: advice and latest information

Q&As: Student Households

Guidance on Households during Covid-19 for Students

Following an update to Welsh Government Covid-19 Guidance for Higher Education, we have created this page of FAQ’s to help you understand what the regulations mean for you in regard to your living situation.

Please always consider the additional risks that are attached to mixing with others. Please plan caref

ully before any movement between your term-time and out of term-time accommodation to mitigate the risk of spreading the virus across the community.
This information has been sourced from Welsh Government publications and we have added some local guidance in order to keep our campuses and local community safe.

If you have any questions regarding the below advice, please contact the MyUni Support team.

What kind of household am I in?

Defining a student household varies on the type of accommodation and tenancy or contact.

Those who have left home to attend University under the current regulations you are now classed as having two ‘households’, your term-time and out of term-time. This allows a movement between the two where necessary, such as for work, because of concerns of mental well-being or at the end of term.

Currently all students must have a reasonable excuse to travel. This means travelling home to ‘visit’ is not allowed.

I’m living in my student accommodation, what does that mean for me now?

If you live in student halls or a houses of multiple occupants (HMO) you are likely to have an individual tenancy or contact. However to ensure the safety of the wider community,everyone who lives in the shared accommodation with the same facilities will be classed as a household, contact group, support bubble and therefore should not mix with another household, contact groups or support bubbles, or invite anybody into yours.

I am the only person back in my flat, does that mean I can’t mix with others?

We do however, recognise at the current time some students may be residing in accommodation that will ordinarily be multiple occupancy households but are on their own due to the fact other students have not yet returned. Only in this circumstance may these individuals form a support bubble.

We ask that you a mindful that when the rest of your flatmates begin returning that your support bubble must then revert back to the people you live with.

What does this mean if one of us gets symptoms of Covid-19?

Those you live with in your shared accommodation are known as your contact group and in order to mitigate the risk of infection you would all have to isolate.

e.g. 7 students in a shared flat, the whole contact group would be required to self-isolate by law if one had symptoms or tested positive for COVID-19.

This would be the same for any other people in your support bubble.

Why is this so strict?

We know that coronavirus spreads easily when people socialise indoors. We also know that people tend not to stick to social distancing practices when they socialise. We need, therefore, to minimise close interaction by reducing the amount of socialising between groups of people.

You should always be aware of the additional risks attached to mixing with more people as you are increasing the numbers of people you may come into contact and could spread the virus with.