The first UK-wide Covid lockdown was announced on the evening of 23 March 2020, with the legal measures coming into force on 26 March 2020.

Key dates at a glance

  • 23 March 2020 – Boris Johnson announced the first nationwide “stay at home” lockdown across the UK.
  • 26 March 2020 – The legal regulations for the lockdown came into force in England (similar rules were implemented by the devolved governments).
  • 4 January 2021 – A later national lockdown was announced again in England as cases surged.

So if you’re asking “when was lockdown UK,” most people are referring to that first announcement on 23 March 2020, which effectively put the country into lockdown from that night, with the detailed law following on 26 March.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.