Key findings
- The cost of the Covid Inquiry is projected to be almost £208 million. This means the cost per day would amount to £144,939.
- The Covid Inquiry was formally established on 28 June 2022.[1] It is expected that witnesses will conclude giving evidence in June 2026.[2]
- The costs incurred by the Covid Inquiry in the financial year 2023-24 were over £70 million. In the first half of 2024-25 the inquiry has spent over £30 million.[3],[4] This takes the costs since the beginning of the inquiry to more than £124 million.[5],[6]
- The estimated cost of the Covid Inquiry would make it the most expensive statutory inquiry by total cost and 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 expected length of the Covid Inquiry.
- The Covid Inquiry is estimated to cost over 28 times more than the Phone Hacking (Leveson) Inquiry by total cost.
- Since 2005 when the Inquires Act was introduced, there have been 22 completed statutory inquiries that have released full accounts.[7]
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] UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Financial Report to 30 June 2024, 2024, p.2.
[4] UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Financial Report to 30 September 2024, 2024, p.2.
[5] Ibid.
[6] This includes costs from the initial set-up phase of the inquiry before it was formally established.
[7] The Grenfell Inquiry and the Infected Blood Inquiry have published reports but did not have complete financial reports.