Covid inquiry findings on care sector set to be published

Government failures created environments in care settings in which Covid could spread like wildfire, an inquiry report says

Ministers' claims of there being a "protective ring" around care homes at the start of Covid were unfounded, the report says

Baroness Hallett says the Covid pandemic "totally disrupted" the lives of people in care homes and had a "devastating impact" – there were more than 43,000 deaths involving Covid in care homes between March 2020 and July 2022

Her latest report, on the UK's adult social care sector, says patients were moved to care homes from hospitals with no early guidance to isolate arrivals – read key findings from the inquiry

Care workers had to resort to desperate measures to get PPE, with some using festival waterproof ponchos, painters' overalls and bin bags

The government at the time knew the care sector was "extremely vulnerable" but still failed to act until it was too late, families say

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to use the findings to develop an "action plan" in case of a future pandemic

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Edited by Imogen James and Matt Spivey, with health correspondent Nick Triggle and social affairs editor Alison Holt

The sixth report of the Covid inquiry is highly critical of the way the government tried to protect people in care settings in the UK.

It found action to protect the approximated 500,000 people living in care homes at the start of the pandemic came too late, causing devastating consequences.

No "protective ring": At the start of the pandemic, the then-health secretary Matt Hancock said the UK government had placed "a protective ring" around care homes. Citing a catalogue of failings, the report says this was not the case and that the care sector appeared to be "something of an afterthought".

Long-standing weaknesses: High level staff vacancies and turnover, financial pressures and a fragmented system all undermined the ability of the sector to respond to the pandemic, the inquiry says. These weakness were exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic.

Visiting restrictions: Precautionary steps taken to restrict visiting, as part of infection control, went too far according to the report. Evidence suggested visitors posed a "marginal risk", as staff were judged to be the key entry point for infections.

Do not resucutate orders: The inquiry says it heard evidence of GPs imposing blanket do not resuscitate orders (DNACPR) on care home residents and pointed to records showing a sharp increase in orders being put in place.

'Deep distress': Staff told the inquiry of the deep distress they suffered. Seeing so many residents die placed an enormous strain on workers, who often had to provide end-of-life care to multiple people at the same time.

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing By Tom Edgington

Claims from ministers there was a "protective ring" around care homes at the start of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic were unfounded, chair inquiry Baroness Hallett said earlier.

There were more than 43,000 recorded deaths involving Covid in care homes between March 2020 and July 2022.

Here's a reminder of action the government took early in the pandemic:

19 March: NHS guidance at the time said, "unless required to be in hospital, patients must not remain in an NHS bed". This policy was implemented to free up beds in advance of an expected surge in Covid patients.

2 April: Rules on discharging patients to care homes were clarified, "negative tests are not required prior to transfers/admissions into the care home".

2 April: The Department of Health and Social Care advised people not to visit care homes, "except next of kin in exceptional situations such as end of life".

15 April: The government announced all patients discharged from hospital would be tested for Covid as well as all care home residents with Covid symptoms.

By this time, an estimated 25,000 patients had been discharged to care homes.

28 April: Testing was extended to all care staff and residents, regardless of whether they had symptoms. It's important to remember that early in the pandemic it wasn't widely understood that people who didn't have symptoms could pass on coronavirus.

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Image source, Getty ImagesPrime Minister Andy Burnham says the government is "committed to learning the lessons" from today's report and has pledged to use the findings to develop an "action plan" in case of a future pandemic.

Similarly, Health Secretary Yvette Cooper says a "full response" will be provided by the government soon, and that she agrees with Baroness Hallett – the inquiry's chair – that the social care sector was "undervalued and under-recognised" for too long.

Health Committee Chair Layla Moran tells the BBC that the NHS and social care need to be on equal footing, and that the government would be "foolhardy" not to heed all the warnings given in the report.

The then-health secretary Matt Hancock declined to comment when approached by the BBC.

Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaigner Jean Adamson – whose father died in April 2020 – says the social care system is "still not built for purpose".

Age UK director Caroline Abrahams highlights the "big price" care workers paid during the pandemic in her response, explaining that the government and the NHS were "playing catch-up" in a situation where social care was a "second-class citizen".

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingJack GreyLive reporter

Matthew Fowler (centre), co-founded Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice following the death of his father, Ian, in 2020

Matthew Fowler, the co-founder of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, tells me the inquiry's latest findings "vindicate" the group's efforts.

"I think first and foremost they vindicate everything that the we have been saying for the last six years," says Fowler, who lost his father Ian to Covid in April 2020.

"To see these things written in black and white, and stated as fact, it means a lot to us," he says, adding that "so many" of the group's members have lost loved ones in the care system.

"I dread to think how many people across the country felt as if they had been entirely let down and failed by the government over the course of the pandemic," he adds.

On the recommendations made in the report, Fowler says it is "crucially important" the government starts making "tangible changes" – adding that so far it is "only on track to implement around 20%" of the recommendations made previously in the inquiry.

"I've often said that if my dad's death is what it took to to learn these lessons and to save other people, then I can accept that… ultimately it's down to the government to actually make the change," he adds.

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingLisa SummersBBC Scotland health correspondent

In Scotland, the decision to move patients from hospitals to care homes without testing was taken by the late health secretary Jeanne Freeman.

In 2024, she told the inquiry that she would regret "for the rest of my life" any deaths in care homes caused by the government’s action or inaction.

But she said there were also risks in keeping people in hospital while the virus spread, and Baroness Hallett acknowledges this was "an unenviable choice".

Hallett's report criticises Scottish ministers, alongside the UK and other devolved governments, for failing to advise isolation in care homes for patients discharged from hospital to free up beds, allowing the virus to "spread like wildfire".

In Scotland, 3,595 patients were discharged to care homes between 1 March and 21 April 2020 – and 82% of them had not been tested for Covid-19. Among care home residents, 4,292 deaths named the virus on the death certificate between 2020 and 2022.

And here – as in the other nations – the inquiry found the care sector was treated as "an afterthought", and that action to protect workers and users of care came too late.

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingSusie ForrestHealth producer, BBC Scotland

Baroness Hallett highlights the introduction of Anne's Law in Scotland as a positive step, and recommends that the UK and Welsh governments and Northern Ireland Executive should consider similar regulations or guidance.

Two years after the first pandemic lockdown, the law changed in Scotland to allow residents to choose a relative or friend who could visit for essential care during an outbreak.

It was named after Anne Duke who was cut off from her family for months while battling early-onset dementia, and died in November 2021, aged 63.

The law recognises that stopping visits often causes serious harm to a resident’s health or wellbeing, and says each individual’s needs and circumstances must be taken into account.

Baroness Hallett says this has ensured that visits can only be suspended if it's essential to prevent a risk to life, health or wellbeing, including during any future pandemic, and that visiting must be allowed to continue at the end of life.

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Eamonn O’Brien, chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), says it is "essential" the care sector is adequately funded following today's Covid inquiry report.

He adds it is "absolutely vital" that nobody is discharged into care settings "where clinically vulnerable people live" without robust guidance.

The findings, O'Brien says, offer an "important opportunity to ensure lessons are learned".

He says the experience of care providers, the NHS and local partners "must be at the heart of planning for any future pandemic" along with "those with lived experience of care".

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Care workers "paid a big price" for their courage and commitment during the pandemic, the director of charity for older people Age UK has said.

Caroline Abrahams, who was a witness for the Covid inquiry in 2025, tells BBC News the government and NHS were "playing catch up" during the pandemic against a background where social care was a "second-class citizen".

"If you go into a pandemic and then try and do your planning, it's just too late," she says.

Abrahams says the government is "committed to creating a national care service", adding how Baroness Casey responds to today's findings in her review of adult social care is "really the key".

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Image source, PA MediaAndy Burnham says the government is "committed to learning the lessons" from today's report and has pledged to use the findings to develop an "action plan" in case of a future pandemic.

The prime minister says he recognises the "pain and suffering caused by the pandemic" alongside the lasting impact it continues to have on many people, adding he is "acutely aware" of the experiences of people receiving and providing care during the pandemic.

He also pays tribute to family and friends who provided support and the professionalism shown by staff and volunteers working in adult social care.

"We will use these findings to continue development of our Adult Social Care Pandemic Action Plan," he says.

He says his vision for his previously announced national care service will be "person-centred, highly integrated with health services and preventative in its character".

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing The government would be "foolhardy" not to heed every recommendation and warning given by today's report, the chair of the health and social care select committee has said.

Layla Moran MP says there was a "whole cascade of poor decisions" taken at the time of the pandemic.

She tells BBC News that the NHS and social care system need to be put on an equal footing: "That's the thing that we need to put right with the right people in charge."

The MP says social care is at the top of the agenda for her committee members and she wants the government to come up with a plan sooner.

She adds the focus of Prime Minister Andy Burnham is on social care.

"Unless we can come round the table and decide how it's all going to be paid for, yet again it's not going to happen and that is not acceptable. We cannot have this situation any more."

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Image source, Getty ImagesWhile reaction to the report continues to come in, here is a quick recap of the shortages and policy decisions that saw the virus spread in care settings:

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingAndrew RogersBBC Newsbeat

Phoenix Green, 24, started working as a care assistant during the pandemic when she was 18.

One of the things the report raised was problems with isolation and people in care homes not being allowed to have visits from friends or family.

Reacting to the report's release, she says: "I think with these vulnerable people, family members should have been able to visit, obviously with limitations.

"It was a shame to separate them from their families so much, it’s very important for people with dementia that they do stay in contact with their family."

Some have questioned the cost and length of the Covid Inquiry but Phoenix thinks it was "definitely worth" looking into the care sector.

"We needed a lot more support at the time with what we were going through," she says. "I am shocked it’s happened so late but it needed to be looked into so this doesn’t happen again."

Ahead of the report, she told Newsbeat that carers "didn’t know what you were going to be walking into".

“A lot of care companies didn’t really disclose whether the clients had Covid or not, you were walking into houses full of PPE not knowing what you were going to be bringing home.

“It was quite scary as an 18 and 19 year old going through this, you didn’t really know what to expect, it was terrifying really.”

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Image source, Downing StreetImage caption, Matt Hancock first stated that the government has tried to throw a "protective ring around our care homes" in May 2020

Speaking in May 2020, in the first few months of the pandemic, former health secretary Matt Hancock announced at a Covid briefing that "right from the start, we've tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes".

He defended this claim while speaking to the Covid Inquiry in 2025, stating that he "had to act with the tools that I had and that's what I did".

Hancock was responsible for care services in England. There were more than 43,000 recorded deaths involving Covid in care homes across the UK between March 2020 and July 2022.

During the inquiry, Nicola Brook, a lawyer representing bereaved families, told the ex-health secretary it was "frankly ridiculous and insulting that he says they tried to throw a protective ring around care homes when his department's policies caused Covid to spread like wildfire".

Hancock acknowledged the decision to discharge patients from hospitals into care homes when testing was not available was an "incredibly contentious issue".

However, he described it as the "the least worst solution" available at the time.

Today, the report said claims of a protective ring were "unfounded".

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing The national officer of the GMB says carers from the union were "left vulnerable and terribly exposed" during the pandemic which saw "care homes turned into morgues".

Natalie Grayson says the recommendations from today's report "fall short of the root and branch reform our care sector needs" but adds this was always outside of the remit of the inquiry.

She praises the report for recognising the "incredible contribution" care staff made in trying to keep the most vulnerable members of society alive, and for the respect they treated them with in their final hours.

Grayson adds: "We look forward to working with the government to enact the recommendations that have been made."

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingJoe McFaddenHealth reporter

The inquiry has made eight key recommendations about how to better protect the adult social care sector during an outbreak.

The chair expects the government to implement these now so the sector is more prepared in the event of another pandemic. They are:

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Image source, PA MediaHealth Secretary Yvette Cooper says the government will provide a "full response" to the report’s recommendations "in due course".

Speaking in the Commons, Cooper says she agrees with the inquiry's chair, Baroness Hallett, that social care has been "undervalued and under-recognised" for too long.

“My thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones in the pandemic, and especially those who endured the immense distress and harm of visiting restrictions in care homes, which meant they could not be with loved ones even as they died," she adds.

She says the report found that the social care sector was "insufficiently prepared for a pandemic" and that it was "too often treated as an afterthought" compared to the NHS.

“We will provide a full response to the report’s recommendations in due course."

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Continuing to speak after the release of today's report, Jean Adamson says she was only able to visit her father, Aldrick, through his care home window when he had covid before he died on 15 April 2020.

She says: "Like so many thousands, he died alone. Isolated, a victim of covid but also a victim of government negligence."

The campaigner says the social care system is "too difficult for politicians to reform" and "too easy to ignore".

She says reforms to the social care system cannot wait and it is "still not built for purpose".

"We need urgent action to prevent another tragedy like this from ever happening again."

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Today's report is a "devastating account of one of the darkest episodes in our country's history", a campaigner for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice pressure group has said.

Jean Adamson says the report shows the government knew the care sector was "extremely vulnerable" to a pandemic but it still failed to act until it was "too late".

She says it shows that former health secretary Matt Hancock's claim of throwing a protective ring around care homes was a "cruel lie".

The campaigner says members of the government made the decision to discharge hospital patients into care homes despite having "no medical expertise".

"[They] made a decision that became a death sentence for our family members," she adds.

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing The Scottish government says it will take the "necessary time" to "fully and carefully consider" the Covid inquiry's findings.

"We recognise the loss, hurt and suffering experienced by people, particularly among those who relied on, delivered or supported adult social care services during an exceptionally challenging period," it says in a statement.

It adds that it acknowledges the "significant impact of the pandemic" on those who rely on care, their families and the "many unpaid carers who provided essential care".

"Throughout the pandemic, the Scottish Government’s overriding objective was to protect people and minimise loss of life," it adds.

Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing Image source, Getty ImagesBarring families and loved ones from visiting people in care homes had "far reaching and devastating consequences", chair inquiry Baroness Hallett continues.

The visits provide "essential human contact, routine, and stability," she explains, adding that "profound isolation" and abandonment felt by residents caused "immense emotional harm".

"Most distressingly, some people were not permitted to be with their dying loved ones," she adds.

On DNACPR notices, which are orders to not resuscitate someone, Hallett says here were "concerns these notices were improperly imposed on groups of people" such as those that are older or had learning disabilities.

She says the discussions on DNACPRs were "too often rushed or non-existent". A mandatory end of life training is needed, she adds.

On the workforce in care homes, Hallett says carers felt they were "overlooked and undervalued",

There are around 5.8m unpaid carers in UK – during pandemic they were "forced to provide complex care, for longer hours, with little or no respite".

Government actions to protect workers and users of adult social care "came too late", she adds.

This was the result of failing to plan, and underlines why the recommendations in the report "must be acted upon now before the next pandemic strikes," she concludes.

We'll bring you more from the report shortly – stick with us.