UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 6 report: Government failures caused virus to spread “like wildfire” in care homes
22 October 2026
The National Covid Memorial Wall in London. Credit: Nicola Brook / Broudie Jackson Canter.
The care sector was treated as an “afterthought” as Government failures caused Covid-19 to spread “like wildfire” among disabled and older residents of care homes, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 6 report has found.
The Inquiry’s report, published on Tuesday (20 October 2026) by Chair Baroness Heather Hallett, set out a number of findings from Module 6, which investigated how UK Government decisions affected domiciliary care providers, care homes, and people drawing on adult social care support.
Baroness Hallett described the Government’s failure to advise that patients discharged from hospitals into care homes should be isolated was a “significant omission”, causing the virus to spread rapidly among care home residents and staff.
More than 43,000 care home residents died from Covid-19 in England and Wales between March 2020 and January 2022, many of them in the early weeks of the pandemic.
As put by Garden Court North’s Pete Weatherby KC in an opening submission on behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice (CBFFJ) UK, this amounted to a “generational slaughter within care homes”.
The “protective ring” around care homes – “a cruel lie”
The report also found that the so-called “protective ring” around care homes described by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock did not exist.
CBFFJ UK, represented by Garden Court North’s Covid-19 Inquiry Team, said in a statement that the report provided a “devastating account of one of the darkest episodes in our country’s history”, and described Mr Hancock’s claim to have thrown a “protective ring” around care homes as a “cruel lie”.
Speaking on behalf of CBFFJ UK, Jean Adamson told The Guardian that “the Government knew the care sector was extremely vulnerable to a pandemic and yet did nothing – failing to act until it was too late. The most at-risk people in our society, the sick, elderly – many of whom had a full and long life ahead of them – were failed by a Government who abandoned them and left them to die.”
Adamson added that the report “doesn’t go far enough” in its recommendations and that CBFFJ UK felt “really let down in several places”.
“We’re going to look at them in more detail, and aim to strengthen them, make them more robust. Because we don’t want to be standing in this place in 10 years’ time, trying to learn the same lessons all over again,” she said.
For Module 6, Garden Court North’s Covid Inquiry team comprised Pete Weatherby KC, Anna Morris KC and Ciara Bartlam instructed by Nicola Brook of Broudie Jackson Canter to represent CBFFJ UK.
Additional media
UK Covid-19 Inquiry – Module 6 Report: Care Sector
UK Covid-19 Inquiry – Module 6 Report ‘In Brief’ summary: Care Sector
The Guardian – UK government failures led to Covid spreading ‘like wildfire’ in care homes, inquiry finds
The Mirror – Covid inquiry report ‘must show who was responsible for care home decisions that cost so many lives’
Garden Court North Chambers – Covid-19 Inquiry: Module 6 hears about “forced” discharging of hospital patients without testing and “generational slaughter” in care homes
For further information, please contact Alex Blair, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers: ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk
