UK Covid-19 Inquiry: Learning from Pandemic Mistakes

It’s not a question of if, but when, another pandemic hits Britain. We owe it to all those who suffered to make sure mistakes are not repeated

What makes the independent inquiry set up to examine the UK’s response to, and the impact of, the Covid-19 pandemic unlike any other in British history is that we are not examining something that affected one specific group of people. The chair, Heather Hallett, and her team have investigated a virus that swept the land and affected every single person in the UK at a profound and long-lasting level.

We have published two inquiry reports, with eight more to come. Each is full of valuable insight, carefully considered conclusions and recommendations about what must now change to ensure we are better prepared for next time.

Witnesses began giving us their evidence in London in summer 2023. Since then, we have held hearings in all four nations and approximately 380 people have appeared as witnesses to tell our chair about their experiences of that extraordinary time. Online, we gathered 58,000 stories from people all across the United Kingdom who chose to share their pandemic experiences directly with us. And we have reviewed more than 600,000 documents, equivalent to about 5m pages of evidence.

This inquiry’s 10 separate investigations – or “modules” – cover virtually every aspect of the pandemic and its impact. They include political decision-making before and during the crisis, the impact in our care homes, the lasting effects on our children and young people, how our healthcare systems adapted and if they coped, the ongoing impact on our economy and the profound changes to our society.

Our terms of reference set out what we are and are not to investigate. We were established by the government in 2022 to examine many aspects of the UK’s preparedness for and response to the pandemic, and to learn lessons for the future. The concerns this inquiry focuses on are not peripheral. In many cases, they remain a reality for millions of people.

We have never been tasked with investigating the origins of the deadly virus, and we cannot therefore do so, although the inquiry’s critics have occasionally suggested we ought to.

It is easy to make the criticism that this inquiry has taken too long or been too costly. I refute this, and would invite anyone who questions the worth of this inquiry to examine the scope set by the government and the list of investigations we have held. Against the backdrop of the billions spent by government to combat the pandemic, the UK is now investing a fraction of that on a transparent, rigorous public inquiry that makes clear recommendations. It is the very least we owe to those who suffered, and to those who will come after us.

There are two uncomfortable truths about public inquiries. The first is that they take time and cost money. A meaningful investigation, in which Lady Hallett was determined to hear from those who were affected directly by Covid-19, should not have been rushed. Some nations’ governments have held swift internal reviews. Here, the government decided on a statutory inquiry with legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and hold people to account in public. Ours has been a full and thorough public investigation, working faster than any previous inquiry of comparable size.

The second truth about inquiries in the UK is that their recommendations have rarely been implemented in full. Governments often receive the findings and then the pressures of the day take over and implementation is deferred.

Hallett’s first report laid bare the lack of preparedness for a pandemic across the UK. Recommendations from successive exercises had been deprioritised because they were not seen as urgent. This cannot be allowed to happen again. None of the inquiry’s work – not the evidence reviewed, not the witnesses heard, not the reports published, not the time and money expended – means anything unless governments and other public bodies act on the inquiry’s findings, and act quickly.

The families who lost loved ones, the key workers who risked their lives, the people who shielded alone, the communities that sacrificed so much – they all deserve one thing above all else: meaningful change.

The time, the money spent and the emotional investment of all those who provided their stories will have been wasted if the inquiry’s recommendations are not implemented in full by the four governments of the UK. The first duty of any government is to protect its people. Hallett expects the full implementation of all the UK Covid-19 inquiry’s recommendations.

The question is not if the UK will face a pandemic again, but whether we will be ready and better prepared next time. Our work has made the cost of Covid-19 very clear. From 30 January 2020 to 28 June 2022, more than 200,000 people died in the UK, and hundreds of thousands more faced loss, isolation or harm. The total cost of UK government spending as a result of Covid-19 is estimated to exceed £375bn – a staggering sum that will be borne by us all and by future generations.

The hearings are over. The remaining reports are coming. Change must happen. The public, hit so hard by the pandemic, deserves nothing less.