Government racks up £100m bill responding to Covid inquiry

The public inquiry into the Covid outbreak has cost the government more than £100 million so far, the BBC has learned. This comes on top of the £192 million spent by the investigation itself; This means the cost to taxpayers is 50% more than previously thought.

Government expenditures include legal advice and personnel costs; At last count, a team of 248 people were working in key departments to produce evidence for the investigation.

Investigative sources questioned the approach, saying the government had at times been “hostile and coercive”, blocking the release of information and submitting documents late.

But the Cabinet Office said it was committed to investigating and learning lessons for the future.

But the Taxpayers Alliance called it a waste of money and the UK’s Covid-19 Bereaved Families said the work was vital but public inquiries generally needed to be made more efficient and less adversarial.

The scale and cost of the Covid Inquiry has already been questioned by some.

It started in 2022, and its final report isn’t expected until 2027. It has already cost £192 million; This figure is expected to exceed £200 million when completed, making it one of the most expensive public inquiries in history.

There are 10 separate research or mentioned modules in total. Looking at pandemic preparedness and government decision-making so far, only two have been completed.

But analysis of Cabinet Office documents by the BBC found government departments spent nearly £101 million from April 2023 to June 2025.

The bulk of this amount is thought to have been provided by five key departments – the Cabinet Office, the Home Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Treasury and the UK Health Security Agency – which have been repeatedly asked to provide evidence.

Cost estimates do not include the time authorities spend preparing and appearing as witnesses in person.

More than half of the £101m spend was on legal fees, including bringing in external lawyers.

An investigation source said the expenses to some extent reflected the government’s defensive attitude towards the investigation.

The inquiry’s chair, Baroness Hallett, and the inquiry’s legal team have criticized government departments for delays in providing documents and preventing the release of key information.

The most famous case of this situation came to a head in 2023. Inquiry and government head to Supreme Court after government refuses to publish Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, diaries and notebooks. The government lost the case.

Sources said the government staged a “massive operation” that at times appeared “hostile and difficult” in terms of investigation.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “The Government is fully committed to supporting investigative work and learning lessons from the outbreak to ensure the UK is better prepared for a future outbreak.”

The Cabinet Office argues that the case was brought to clarify a point of principle: the provider’s right to an inquiry to request information it considers irrelevant.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers Alliance think tank, said: “It is an absolute disgrace that ministers are burning through an extra £100m on top of the money the inquiry has already spent.

“These new figures show the total cost to taxpayers will be much higher than previously feared.

“Ministers must urgently contain the spiraling costs of the Covid Inquiry and commit to delivering responses quickly and efficiently.”

A spokesman for Families Bereaved by Covid-19 in the UK said the inquiry’s work was “vital” and that any costs would be recouped many times in the future if lessons were learned by reducing the economic impact of the next outbreak and saving lives.

But he added: “The investigation process is far from perfect.”

He said the group supported the Hillsborough Bill, which is working its way through parliament and would strengthen public authorities’ legal duty to assist with public inquiries.

He said public investigations like Covid needed to be more efficient and less adversarial.

“Only then can we reduce the cost of future investigations while protecting access to justice.”

A spokesman for the Covid Inquiry said: “The inquiry is unlike any previous public inquiry. It has been given such a broad scope because it is investigating many aspects of an epidemic that affects everyone in society.”

He said the President had initially made clear it would take time and come at significant cost, but it would result in advice aimed at better protecting the UK when the next pandemic hits.

He said he would not comment on the nature of the investigation’s relationship with the government.