What are the "legally permitted reasons" for international travel FROM the UK?

I have a flight ticket from the UK, to Costa Rica, with a connecting flight in Germany (in March). The airline is Lufthansa.

Costa Rica is allowing international travellers in, however, the UK is currently in lockdown and has put out restrictions on leaving your home. The current rules the that UK Government has put out are not very clear:

You can only travel internationally – or within the UK – where you first have a legally permitted reason to leave home. In addition, you should consider the public health advice in the country you are visiting.

If you do need to travel overseas (and are legally permitted to do so, for example, because it is for work), even if you are returning to a place you’ve visited before, you should look at the rules in place at your destination and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice.

Additionally, the travel info page specific to Costa Rica says:

Commercial flights are not running normally. United Airlines, Iberia, Air France and Lufthansa are operating some flights and other airlines are resuming operations on certain dates. Check with the airlines or a travel agent.

Supposing that these rules are still in place in March, can I travel to Costa Rica for tourism purposes? I cannot find a list of the "legally permitted reasons" anywhere on the GOV website.

uk covid-19 connecting-flights costa-rica

Best Answer

All the below applies to England only, which I have assumed is your location based on the reference to the gov.uk guidance for England. Answers for Scotland, Wales and NI will all vary.

On the gov.uk website, the legally permitted reasons for travel are the same as those for leaving your home, which is why they are not repeated.

You can find these near the top of the page you linked at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home#summary-what-you-can-and-cannot-do-during-the-national-lockdown

Leaving home

You must not leave, or be outside of your home except where necessary. You may leave the home to:

shop for basic necessities, for you or a vulnerable person

go to work, or provide voluntary or charitable services, if you cannot reasonably do so from home

exercise with your household (or support bubble) or one other person (in which case you should stay 2m apart). Exercise should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.

meet your support bubble or childcare bubble where necessary, but only if you are legally permitted to form one

seek medical assistance or avoid injury, illness or risk of harm (including domestic abuse)

attend education or childcare - for those eligible

This is the UK government interpretation of the regulation, as mentioned by other answers the actual legal instrument can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1200/part/2/made

In addition, the part of the gov.uk site that you have quoted from specifically states: