The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has delivered a devastating verdict on how Britain treated its most vulnerable during the pandemic, concluding that adult social care was "something of an afterthought" as the virus spread "like wildfire" through care homes. The Module 6 report, published on October 20, 2026, found that more than 43,000 deaths involving Covid-19 were recorded in care homes between March 2020 and July 2022.
According to The Guardian, inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett rejected the government's claim that a "protective ring" had been thrown around care homes from the start of the outbreak, calling that assertion "unfounded." The report found that a lack of proper planning and a failure to implement lessons from earlier pandemic exercises meant ministers took critical decisions in the early weeks without the information they needed, and that action to protect carers and care users came too late.
The Daily Mail reported that around 25,000 hospital patients were discharged into care homes across England in March and April 2020 to free up NHS bed space, before mandatory testing was introduced on April 15, 2020. Former health secretary Matt Hancock gave evidence to the inquiry taking responsibility for the decision, calling it the "least worst decision to a terrible problem" — though the High Court later ruled in 2022 that discharging untested patients into care homes was unlawful, a ruling the government said it would not appeal.
Hallett described the lack of personal protective equipment for care home staff as "wholly unacceptable" and said financial constraints stopped infected care workers from isolating properly. The report makes eight key recommendations, including better pandemic planning, financial support for self-isolating social care staff, clearer guidance on visiting restrictions, and mandatory end-of-life care training after bereaved families said they were not consulted about do-not-resuscitate orders placed on loved ones.
The inquiry, the country's most expensive public inquiry at more than £200 million, has now made 55 recommendations on preparing for future pandemics across its six published modules. Hallett warned her recommendations "must be acted upon now before the next pandemic strikes."