Four in 10 adults in Britain formed a bubble to celebrate Christmas Day

Mixing over Christmas was restricted to one day in much of the UK and banned entirely for millions

More than four in 10 adults in England, Scotland and Wales have said they formed an “exclusive Christmas bubble” with up to two other households to celebrate Christmas Day with family and friends.

Some 44 per cent of adults said they formed a Christmas bubble to celebrate on 25 December, according to data gathered by the Office for National Statistics.

The same proportion said they chose not, while 10 per cent said it was not allowed in their area.

Many families had initially been hoping to enjoy a five-day relaxation of coronavirus restrictions that would have allowed relatives and friends to meet indoors throughout the festive period. 

However, that plan was axed on the weekend before Christmas as the government limited the loosening of restrictions to just one day for much of the country and scrapped it entirely for millions of people in England living in tier 4 areas. Scotland and Wales restricted Christmas bubbling to a single day.

The change in rules meant those in tier 4 areas were no longer allowed to meet people outside of their household and support bubble, with only those in tiers 1, 2 and 3 allowed to meet in groups of up to three households on Christmas Day only.

More than half (55 per cent) of adults reported that they stayed at home with their household over the Christmas period.

One in five of respondents said they had visited family or friends in their homes but did not stay overnight, while 15 per cent said they had visitors over who did not stay overnight.

Five per cent said they stayed with family or friends for at least one evening, while three per cent said they had guests stay overnight. 

The survey found that overall, the proportion of adults meeting up with family and friends over the holidays was lower than had been anticipated based on the responses from residents earlier in the month of Christmas.

The ONS study found that 18 per cent of respondents had found it either “very difficult” or “difficult” to follow the government rules.

A man wearing a Santa hat walks along the River Thames with a woman in view of the Houses of Parliament on December 28, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. Plans for a relaxation of coronavirus rules for Christmas were changed the weekend before the holiday. (Getty Images)

Of those, nearly half (48 per cent) said the reason it was difficult was because they had already made plans before the rules suddenly changed.

“When comparing responses among those who reported finding it difficult to follow the government rules before the government’s announcements to responses over the Christmas period, there was a change in the difficulties reported,” the ONS said. 

Over the Christmas period, the ONS said, a higher percentage of people reported difficulties in following the rules because they said they wanted to see family or friends on dates other than the 25 December (42 per cent), and wanted to be able to keep up family or Christmas traditions (35 per cent).

However, over the period of 16 to 20 December, a higher percentage had reported that they were struggling to follow the rules because it was hard to choose between friends and family for their bubble groups (47 per cent) and to stick to a bubble of only three exclusive households (47 per cent).

The ONS study analysed 3,756 responses from adults aged 16 and over between 22 December and 3 January, with 2,320 people being asked specifically about their Christmas Day activities.