Public Inquiry

UK COVID-19 Inquiry

Status: Ongoing Chair: Baroness Heather Hallett Established: Apr 2022 Commissioned by: Cabinet Office

Public inquiry examining the UK's response to and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and learning lessons for the future. The inquiry is examining preparedness, decision-making, health and social care, vaccines, and the impact on different communities.

Response breakdown

44 recommendations total

43%

11%

34%

19 (43%) — Accepted

5 (11%) — Accepted in Part

3 (7%) — Under Review

15 (34%) — Awaiting Response

2 (5%) — Not Applicable

Reports & milestones

Reports

18 Jul 2024 10 tracked recs Module 1: Resilience and Preparedness · Tracked recommendations · PDF

20 Nov 2025 19 tracked recs Module 2: Core Decision-Making · Tracked recommendations · PDF

19 Mar 2026 10 tracked recs Module 3: Impact on Healthcare Systems · Tracked recommendations · PDF

16 Apr 2026 5 tracked recs Module 4: Vaccines and Therapeutics · Tracked recommendations · PDF

30 Nov 2023 0 tracked recs Every Story Matters · PDF

Timeline

12 May 2021 Inquiry Announced Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a statutory public inquiry. · Source

15 Dec 2021 Chair Appointed Baroness Hallett appointed as Chair.

28 Jun 2022 Terms of Referenc… Terms of Reference finalised after consultation. · Source

04 Oct 2022 Preliminary Heari… First preliminary hearing held.

13 Jun 2023 Module 1 Hearings… Module 1 examining preparedness and resilience began.

03 Oct 2023 Module 2 Hearings Module 2 examining core UK decision-making.

15 Jan 2024 Module 2 Devolved… Hearings examining Scottish, Welsh and NI decision-making.

18 Jul 2024 Module 1 Report P… First report on pandemic preparedness published. · Source

Recommendations

10 shown (filtered)

Code	Recommendation	Addressed to	Response
COVID-M1.1	Simplify Emergency Preparedness Structures The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each simplify and reduce the number of structures with responsibility for …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.2	Cabinet Office Leadership for Emergencies The UK government should: abolish the lead government department model for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience; and require the Cabinet Office …	Cabinet Office	Accepted in Part	View →
COVID-M1.3	Improved Risk Assessment Approach The UK government and devolved administrations should work together on developing a new approach to risk assessment that moves away from a …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.4	UK-wide Civil Emergency Strategy The UK government and devolved administrations should together introduce a UK-wide whole-system civil emergency strategy (which includes pandemics) to prevent each emergency …	Cabinet Office	Accepted in Part	View →
COVID-M1.5	Pandemic Data Systems and Research The UK government, working with the devolved administrations, should establish mechanisms for the timely collection, analysis, secure sharing and use of reliable …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.6	Triennial Pandemic Exercises The UK government and devolved administrations should together hold a UK-wide pandemic response exercise at least every three years. The exercise should: …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.7	Publish Exercise Reports and Lessons For all civil emergency exercises, the governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each (unless there are reasons of …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.8	Triennial Parliamentary Resilience Reports The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each produce and publish reports to their respective legislatures at least …	Cabinet Office	Accepted in Part	View →
COVID-M1.9	External Red Teams for Resilience The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each introduce the use of red teams in the Civil Service …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.10	Independent Statutory Resilience Body The UK government should, in consultation with the devolved administrations, create a statutory independent body for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience. …	Cabinet Office	Under Consideration	View →

Parliamentary activity

256 mentions since Jul 2020

9 debates 112 questions 36 statements

03 Jun 2026 Written Question Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme
Sir Christopher Chope (Conservative)

01 Jun 2026 Written Question Covid-19 Inquiry
Jess Asato (Labour)

20 May 2026 Written Ministerial Statement UK COVID-19 Inquiry response costs for Quarter 3 25/26
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour)

20 May 2026 Written Ministerial Statement UK COVID-19 Inquiry response costs for Quarter 3 25/26
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour)

19 May 2026 Written Question Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme
Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat)

View all 256 mentions →

Costs

Total: £213,708,000

Period	Total	Inquiry legal	CP legal	Source
Mar 2026 (cum.)	£213,708,000	£67,344,000	£54,773,000	link
Sep 2025	£19,012,000	£10,892,000	£8,471,000	link
Mar 2025	£66,723,000	£18,704,000	£20,470,000	link
Mar 2024	£80,889,000	£20,453,000	£19,335,000	link
Mar 2023	£25,625,000	£9,210,000	£3,129,000	link