Boris Johnson’s government could be forced to pay grieving families £200million over Covid deaths in care homes in Britain’s biggest ever class action lawsuit.
A court ruled this week that the Tories’ reckless policy of clearing 25,000 hospital patients off wards and into homes without first testing them for the virus had been unlawful.
Judges said the Government had failed to consider the risks from asymptomatic transmission.
Their ruling blew apart the claim by then Health Secretary Matt Hancock that ministers had put a “protective ring” around care homes.
Now legal experts say loved ones of those who died as a result could each win a five-figure negligence payout.
And they say the Department of Health and Social Care could be faced with having to defend itself against claims for corporate manslaughter.
Labour ’s Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “It’s impossible to know the number of lives lost as a result. The Government can’t claim they weren’t warned at the time.
“And they now can’t claim they acted to save lives. They broke the law and people died.”
The policy continued until a sudden rule change on April 15, 2020.
Yet the SAGE scientific advisory group had warned in early February that “asymptomatic transmission cannot be ruled out”. And Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance mentioned the issue as early as March 13, a month before the rule changed.
Yet the High Court found no evidence to indicate the Government had considered those risks, a catastrophic failure that contributed to more than 20,000 care home deaths.
Human rights lawyer Emma Jones, of law firm Leigh Day, said the Government could face the biggest class action of its kind.
She said: “This ruling that the policy was ‘unlawful’ assists our investigation into whether it is possible for families to sue the Government for negligence.
“We are now investigating whether there might be a claim or a case on behalf of people’s loved ones.
“This will include an investigation into each case. This is important because, for families, it’s not about money – it’s about answers. It could lead to one of the first and largest group actions of its kind.”
Mr Hancock has been accused of “categorically” telling Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March 2020 that hospital patients would be tested before being moved to care homes.
But no such policy was put in place until the PM returned from his own Covid battle and reportedly asked Mr Hancock: “What the hell happened?”
Mr Hancock last year denied he misled the PM, saying “it wasn’t possible” to test all patients at discharge.
Second World War hero Charles Wright, 99 – who fought behind enemy lines and spent 18 months in a PoW camp – died in a care home on April 17, 2020. His son Clive, unable to see his “amazing” dad in his last six weeks, had no idea he had the virus.
The family believe he may have got Covid in hospital before being sent untested back to a care home in Ipswich, Suffolk. Clive said: “People like my dad were put out to die.
“If he had Covid, staying in hospital would have been best for him. Instead he was sent to a care home and no one was the wiser.”
Care home boss David Crabtree says he was threatened when he tried to refuse to accept untested hospital patients – and saw eight residents die.
Mr Crabtree, 68, of West Yorks, said: “I don’t believe for a second they weren’t aware. Maybe the elderly were seen as expendable.”
Trying to deflect blame, Mr Johnson told MPs this week: “The thing that we didn’t know was that Covid could be transmitted asymptomatically in the way that it was. That is something I wish we had known more about at the time.” And a spokesperson for Mr Hancock said of the ruling: “The court also found that Public Health England failed to tell ministers what they knew about asymptomatic transmission.”
Minutes of SAGE’s second meeting on Covid on January 28 said “early indications imply some [asymptomatic transmission] is occurring”.
Top QC Alex Bailin said: “Liability for corporate manslaughter is a real possibility if it can be shown there was reckless disregard for risk to life.”
- Some 2.87 million people had Covid in the week to April 23, a 24% weekly fall – the biggest since July 2020.
Wes Streeting, writing for the Sunday Mirror, says Boris Johnson's too busy dodging the blame to face facts
Boris Johnson likes to claim that he gets the big calls right.
In the early months of the pandemic, the Prime Minister decided to discharge hospital patients to care homes without testing them for Covid.
Doing so exposed the most vulnerable in our country to a deadly virus. It cost lives.
This week, the High Court ruled the policy was unlawful.
The ruling will offer some sense of justice to Dr Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris, who took the Government to court after losing their fathers.
Typically, Boris Johnson still refuses to take responsibility.
He only offers excuses, claiming no one knew Covid could be passed on by people who aren’t displaying symptoms. It is simply not true.
SAGE, the Government’s independent scientific advisers, reported on January 28, 2020 on signs that Covid could be transmitted asymptomatically.
On March 16, I raised evidence from UCL’s Professor Anthony Costello directly with Matt Hancock in the Commons.
It was a month before the Government changed course.
Ministers ignored alarm bells that were being sounded right across the country.
The Sunday People was first to report on the Covid timebomb in social care.
In the end, 25,000 hospital patients were sent into care homes untested. It’s impossible to know the number of lives lost as a result.
The Government can’t claim they weren’t warned at the time. And they now can’t claim they acted to save lives. They broke the law and people died.
We owe it to families to make sure this never happens again.
The Conservatives are too busy covering their backs to learn from their mistakes.
