Key findings
- The cost of the Covid Inquiry is projected to be over £196 million. The cost per day is estimated to be £136,907.
- The formal establishment of the Covid Inquiry was on 28 June 2022.[1] Witnesses are expected to conclude giving evidence in June 2026.[2]
- The costs incurred by the Covid Inquiry in the financial year 2023-24 were over £70 million. This takes the costs since the beginning of the inquiry to almost £94 million,[3] already making it the second most expensive statutory inquiry since 2005 after adjusting for inflation.
- The estimated cost of the covid inquiry would make it the most expensive statutory inquiry by total cost and the most costly inquiry on a per day basis, surpassing the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This is despite the length of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse being almost double the length of the projected Covid Inquiry run time.
- The Covid Inquiry is estimated to cost over 9.5 times more than the Phone Hacking (Leveson) Inquiry per day, which ended in 2012.
- Since 2005 when the Inquires Act was introduced, there have been 22 completed statutory inquiries.
READ THE BRIEFING NOTE
[1] UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Financial Report to 31 March 2023, 2023, p.2.
[2] Dyer, C. Covid-19: UK’s pandemic inquiry prepares to hear from witnesses, British Medical Journal, 8 June 2023, www.bmj.com/content/381/bmj.p1314, (accessed 13 November 2023).
[3] This includes costs from the initial set-up phase of the inquiry before it was formally established.