The People’s Covid Inquiry has accused the Government of ‘misconduct in public office’ over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic which led to tens of thousands of avoidable deaths.

In the absence of a formal public inquiry into the pandemic, The People’s COVID Inquiry began in February 2021 and concluded it’s hearings in the summer. It covered all aspects of the government’s handling of the pandemic and heard testimony from a wide range of people and organisations. These included previous government advisors and key academics, as well as frontline workers and bereaved family members. The Inquiry was chaired by world renowned human rights barrister Michael Mansfield QC who, together with a panel of experts, have now delivered their findings and recommendations on all main aspects of the pandemic to date.

Key findings include:

1. The depleted state of the NHS and other public services prior to the pandemic was a determining factor in poor outcomes and led to avoidable deaths.

2. The government was poorly prepared for the pandemic and moved too slowly, which led to avoidable death.

3. The government adopted the wrong strategy leading to loss of life and growing mistrust in its advice.

4. The government’s poor record on inequalities has put the most vulnerable at risk from illness and death from Covid-19.

5. Misconduct in public office: There has been dismal failure in the face of manifestly obvious risks. 

The report received a huge amount of press interest just a section of which you can read by looking at the press page on our People's Covid Inquiry website.

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We're inviting the public and press to join us and Michael Mansfield QC and the People's Covid Inquiry panel to hear our 'manifestly obvious findings'. 

The reason we called our People's Covid Inquiry immediately while the pandemic is ongoing was so we could learn lessons and save lives now. 

We are inviting the press and the public to hear these preliminary findings and help us make sure they reach the ears of the decision-makers in government so that can be implemented as soon as possible. 

As the infection rate rises and the delta variant increasingly becomes a threat, we have no time to lose. 

We have been gathering evidence from some of the worlds greatest experts and hearing firsthand stories from the front line for over 4 months, our final report is planned for release in the autumn. But we have plenty to say right now.

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Previous sessions have heard testimony on government policies before and during the pandemic that have had significant bearing on the impact of the pandemic on the population, the differential impacts on groups in the population, the success or failure to control the spread of coronavirus, the resulting high numbers of deaths and people suffering with long term effects of Covid-19. This concluding session takes an overview: as the Delta variant spreads in Britain, and the pandemic rages across the world, with billions unprotected by vaccine, there are important issues of national and international consequence: a people's vaccine, with technology shared and free from patents; governance around the vaccination programme; the importance of listening and responding to citizens such as Bereaved Families for Justice. Inquiry witnesses have been highly critical of the way national government by-passed Local Authorities and Public Health: what could local government do and, most important, what must happen now?; what is the role of a trade union in the pandemic; why has Government policy been in conflict with national trade unions like the NEU and there are questions from a legal standpoint on accountability and legal and statutory compliance.

THE PANEL:

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Michael Mansfield QC (chair), Professor Neena Modi, Dr. Tolullah Oni, Dr. Jacky Davis

Lorna Hackett Barrister (Counsel to the Inquiry)

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WITNESSES:

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Deepti Gurdasani | Clinical epidemiologist & statistical geneticist, Senior Lecturer in Machine Learning, Queen Mary Univ. of London

Kevin Courtney | Joint General Secretary, National Education Union

Stephen Cowan | Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council 

Matt Western | MP for Warwick & Leamington - written statement read out

Jean Adamson | Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice

Michael Bimmler | Public law barrister

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This session looks at the wellbeing of the population during the pandemic, with a focus on the welfare and mental health needs of NHS and frontline staff, families and young people. The Government’s decisions and how it communicated them to the public have had a major impact on the public’s responses, wellbeing and safety. Frequently, sections of the public have been blamed for their responses. We will ask if this was fair. The NHS employs 1.5 million staff and they have been through an extraordinarily traumatic time: burnout, anxiety, depression and PTSD are common. 150,000 UK deaths indicates that over a million have been bereaved and many more affected by loss. There is a significant rise in mental health conditions without an increase in resources to meet the need – including children and young people under 16, 19% of the UK population, in whom the rate of mental health distress has risen to 1 in 6 children, from 1 in 9 pre-pandemic. The Panel will hear testimony from an expert in social psychology; a research team on the comparative mental health impact on frontline health staff in two different countries – the UK and Ireland; an NHS CAMHS nurse working with children and young people; and from young person, a citizen witness who will testify to her experience in lockdown and her personal bereavement.

THE PANEL

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Michael Mansfield QC (chair), Professor Neena Modi, Dr. Tolullah Oni, Dr. Jacky Davis

Lorna Hackett Barrister (Counsel to the Inquiry)

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WITNESSES:

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Stephen Reicher | Professor of Social Psychology, Univ. of St Andrews; participant in SPI-B (SAGE) and Advisory Group to Scottish CMO on Covid-19; member of Independent SAGE

Rachel Sumner | Senior Lecturer in Psychology, School of Natural & Social Sciences, University of Gloucestershire;

and co-researcher Elaine Kinsella | Chartered psychologist, lecturer in psychology, University of Limerick, Ireland

Fatima Az- Zahra Ali | School student 

Rachel Ambrose | NHS nurse in CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health service) and Nurses United

From Session 9: Jonathan Portes | Professor of Economics & Public Policy at King’s College London and former senior civil servant

We are seeing the devastating impact of Covid-19 on mental health, with more people in crisis. But we are

just as worried about the people who need help now but aren't getting it. Our fear is that

the lockdown is storing up problems which could then lead to a tsunami of referrals’ 

Professor Wendy Burn, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, May 2020.

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A striking feature of the government’s pandemic response has been contracting out COVID related services to private companies. This has been without the usual tendering processes and any transparency around contract details including costs. Despite a number of contracts failing spectacularly (e.g. NHS Test and Trace) and some pre-COVID contracts such as NHS Logistics being exposed as wholly inadequate, public contract funding has been differentially awarded to Conservative party donors and close contacts.

We will hear about the reliance on and scale of private contracts during the pandemic, and the level of pre-pandemic outsourcing and privatisation. How did this contribute to the failures in response? We will hear about legal challenges on behalf of the taxpayer in relation to COVID contracts – one important example being the successful challenge on the Palantir contract. And from staff experience, the dangers and anxieties of shortage of PPE and the relation to decisions to outsource contracts. We have previously heard from family members directly affected by COVID.

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GUEST APPEARANCE (opening the session):

Michael Rosen | author, poet, broadcaster and former UK Children's Laureate

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THE PANEL:

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​Michael Mansfield QC (chair), Professor Neena Modi, Dr. Tolullah Oni, Dr. Jacky Davis

Lorna Hackett Barrister (Counsel to the Inquiry)

WITNESSES:

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David McCoy | Professor of Global Health Medicine, Institute of Population Health Sciences, QMUL; Centre for Health and the Public Interest

Dr David Wrigley | GP in Carnforth, North Lancs, Deputy Chair BMA, co-author ‘NHS for Sale’ and ‘NHS SOS

Rosa Curling | Lawyer, co-founder of Foxglove campaigning against misuse of digital data & technology; formerly of Leigh Day Solicitors

Dr Michelle Dawson | NHS Consultant Anaesthetist, trustee Healthcare Workers’ Foundation charity (previously ‘Heroes’)

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‘The independent sector has played a critical role in helping us get through the crisis and will play a critical role in future … That has put to bed any lingering, outdated arguments about a split between public and private in healthcare. We could not have got through the crisis without the combined teamwork of the public and private sectors' 

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health, August 2020

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‘Despite the unimaginable resources thrown at this project, test and trace cannot point to a measurable difference to the progress of the pandemic, and the promise on which this huge expense was justified – avoiding another lockdown – has been broken, twice.’

Meg Hillier, Chair Commons Public Accounts Committee, 6 March 2021

‘There is no clear evidence to judge NHS test and trace’s overall effectiveness. It is unclear whether its specific contribution to reducing infection levels … has justified its cost [£37bn].’     

Public Accounts Committee. Feb 2021

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The People's COVID Inquiry asks: was there any serious appraisal of risk for sections of our society who experience inequalities and discrimination? What has the outcome been and how has the Government responded?

The devastating differential impact of Covid and the pandemic on BAME people came as a shock but not really a surprise. Even prior to the pandemic there was strong evidence that racism, unequal education, job and economic opportunities, housing and access to healthcare affected the health of people in BAME communities unequally. The Covid pandemic and the role of key workers who carried on working, who could not work at home, and who kept the transport, health, and other services going, compounded all of these issues for BAME people and were reflected in the illness and death rate. ​The impact of Covid has fallen differentially on women in many important ways.

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In order to answer these questions and to learn lessons, in this session we are listening to a researcher on the differential impact of Covid on the BAME health workers and we will hear testimony about the experience of BAME frontline staff, migrants and on women. Evidence is also available from the work done by Independent SAGE, the Fenton Review and health unions.

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THE PANEL:​

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Michael Mansfield QC (chair), Professor Neena Modi, Dr. Tolullah Oni, Dr. Jacky Davis

Lorna Hackett Barrister (Counsel to the Inquiry)

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WITNESSES:

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Mary-Ann Stephenson | Director, Women's Budget Group

Kamlesh Khunti | Professor of Primary Care Diabetes & Vascular Medicine, University of Leicester, member of government advisory body SAGE, Chair of SAGE Ethnicity Sub-Group and member of Independent SAGE

Dr Latifa Patel | British Medical Association (Personal Capacity)

Aliya Yule | Migrants Organise

‘We now recognise that different ethnic groups suffer from health disadvantage, not only because of deprivation but ... because of racism and discrimination, and that is another form of health inequalities … [Covid inequalities] overlap considerably with causes of inequalities in health more generally … Half of care workers do not earn a living age.’                 

Professor Sir Michael Marmot

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‘COVID-19 could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women's rights”.                 UN Secretary-General António Guterres

‘There is an association between ... some ethnic groups and the likelihood of testing positive and dying ...

[Diagnoses per 100,000] were highest in Black ethnic groups (486 in female; 649 in males) and

lowest …in White ethnic groups (220 in females; 224 in male)’

Professor Kevin Fenton

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The People's COVID Inquiry asks: Were the roles of key workers and the risks they faced understood? Were they supported and protected? Were employment conditions, in-work poverty and health and safety at work given adequate consideration by the Government?

It became very clear at the outset of the pandemic that the UK Government needed to radically reappraise the roles of key workers in society. We will hear the evidence of frontline staff working in the NHS, in care services, transport and education. Evidence will also be drawn from the work of bodies including Independent SAGE and assorted trade unions and professional associations across these sectors.

WITNESSES:

Prof. Raymond Agius | Professor Emeritus of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Manchester

Unjum Mirza | ASLEF, BAME Rep, Victoria Line Branch

Kirsty Brewerton | NHS Clinical Sister and founder Sitting Rooms of Culture 

Dr Chidi Ejimofo | NHS consultant in Emergency Medicine

[Prof. Dame Donna Kinnair, RCN General Secretary and CEO has had to withdraw]

THE PANEL:

• Michael Mansfield QC (chair)
• Professor Neena Modi
• Dr Tolullah Oni
• Dr Jacky Davis
• Lorna Hackett (Counsel to the Inquiry)

‘We’ve got a fantastic NHS, we will give them all the support that they need, we will make sure that they have all preparations, all the kit that they need for us to get through it’ 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 10 March 2020

‘What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything that we can,

to minimise loss of life and to minimise suffering in what has been a very, very difficult stage,

and a very, very difficult crisis for our country, and we will continue to do that' 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 26 January 2021

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The People's COVID Inquiry asks: Was this scale of death, long-term illness and distress inevitable? Why were Covid-positive patients discharged into care homes on three separate occasions? Was the UK social care sector well-equipped to meet the pandemic, and could nothing more have been done to enable social care workers to protect both themselves and those depending on their care?

Over 140,000 people have now died in the UK of Covid-19. Shockingly, six in ten people who have died have been disabled, and more than 35,000 people have died in care homes. Social care has been stretched to breaking point, and heavy care responsibilities have fallen upon families and loved ones, invariably falling most heavily on women.

WITNESSES:

• Professor Martin McKee | Professor of European Public Health, member of Independent SAGE
• Dr Rachel Clarke | Consultant in Palliative Care Medicine
• Ellen Clifford | Disabled People Against the Cuts
• Clare Phillips | Operations manager supported living services for adults with learning disabilities

THE PANEL:

• Michael Mansfield QC (chair)
• Professor Neena Modi
• Dr Tolullah Oni
• Dr Jacky Davis
• Lorna Hackett (Counsel to the Inquiry)

‘We put a protective ring around our care homes’

 Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, 19 May 2020

‘We’re helping [businesses and individuals] through the pandemic with a £280bn support package,

which is among the most generous in the world’ 

Treasury spokesperson, 20 December 2020

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'There will indeed be a time when we must learn the lessons of what has happened ... I don't think that moment is now.'

Boris Johnson, 27 January 2021

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The People's COVID inquiry asks: what does ‘Zero Covid’ mean and is it possible, or has the Government really done the best it can? Is it possible to protect the population and protect the economy at the same time? Did the prospect of an effective vaccine side-line effective test, trace and isolate?

We will look at the UK government’s engagement with local government public health and primary care GP teams and the NHS and ask if this has been effective. Under the scope will be decisions of government to privatise testing and contact tracing, their response to calls for ‘Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support’ (FTTIS), their sharing of data and decision making with local government; the financial support for central v. local contact tracing and performance of these; abolition of Public Health England and the level of public health expertise relied on in their decision making. 

WITNESSES

Professor Anthony Costello Professor of Global Health and Sustainable Development, University College London; former Director at WHO, member of Independent SAGE

Professor Michael Baker Department of Public Health, University of Otago, New Zealand

Rehana Azam National Secretary GMB Union

Janet Harris Sheffield Community Contact Tracing Group

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​THE PANEL

​Michael Mansfield QC (chair), Professor Neena Modi, Dr Tolullah Oni, Dr Jacky Davis,

Lorna Hackett Barrister (Counsel to the Inquiry)

‘Our aim is to try and reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not suppress it completely… The vast majority of people get a mild illness, to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission’ 

Sir Patrick Vallance, BBC Radio 4 Today, 13 March 2020

‘What we have to do is take swift and decisive action where we think that the risks are starting to bubble up again’ 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 28 July 2020

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The People's COVID Inquiry asks: What strategies did the Government employ to bring the virus under control and were they effective? Did it pay due regard to scientific evidence and public health expertise? Was it influenced by 'lockdown sceptics'. Were there other strategies the Government could have adopted that would have had better outcomes?

WITNESSES FOR THE SESSION:

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​Lobby Akinnola (Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice)

Professor Sir David King (Independent-SAGE)

Dr. Helen Salisbury (GP)

Jan Shortt (National Pensioners Convention)

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THE PANEL

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Michael Mansfield QC (chair), Professor Neena Modi, Dr. Tolullah Oni, Dr. Jacky Davis, Lorna Hackett Barrister (Counsel to the Inquiry)

‘At all stages, we have been guided by the science, and we will do the right thing at the right time’ 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 12 March 2020

‘What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything that we can, to minimise loss of life and to minimise suffering in what has been a very, very difficult stage, and a very, very difficult crisis for our country, and we will continue to do that’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 26 January 2021

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