The Covid Inquiry's rejection of Matt Hancock's claim that a "protective ring" was thrown around care homes has renewed scrutiny of his record as Health Secretary. The former minister's handling of the pandemic and subsequent personal scandals have faced years of criticism.
Hancock became a familiar figure at Downing Street briefings as families endured lockdowns. His assertion about care homes has become one of the most fiercely disputed statements of his time in office. The inquiry branded government inaction "inexcusable" and heard that more than 43,000 deaths involving Covid were recorded in UK care homes between March 2020 and July 2022.
Inquiry rejects 'protective ring' claim
Evidence heard by the inquiry painted a different picture from Hancock's repeated claims. Early in the pandemic, hospital patients were rapidly discharged into care homes to free up NHS beds, but until mid-April 2020 there was no policy requiring all patients to be tested before discharge. The inquiry also criticised the failure to advise homes to isolate patients arriving without symptoms.
A civil servant described the toll as a "generational slaughter within care homes", while hearings included a description of a "cull of older people who could no longer contribute to the society". Bereaved families previously called Hancock's phrase a "sickening lie" and a "joke". Hancock insisted his department had made "a big team effort, and we were all pulling as hard as we possibly could to save lives - that's what I meant by saying that we tried to throw a protective ring around".
The report concluded this "does not accurately reflect the lack of action taken to protect care homes across the UK in March and the first half of April 2020". Around 25,000 patients were discharged from hospitals into care homes between March 17 and April 15, 2020, a period when "care homes received insufficient protection at the time they most needed it".
Families demand accountability
Jean Adamson, whose father Cleo died on April 15, 2020, after contracting Covid in his care home, spoke at The Kia Oval in south London following publication. She said: "Today's report is a devastating account of one of the darkest episodes in our country's history. It shows 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. And It shows that Matt Hancock's claim to have thrown a protective ring around care homes was a cruel lie."
Cleo, full name Aldrick Cleophas Adamson, was a Windrush pioneer who arrived from Barbados in 1956 and worked for London Underground. Following a stroke in 2018, he moved into a nursing home. Jean added: "When he became ill, we could only see him through his care home window. I was not even able to hold his hand. He died on 15 April 2020. Like so many thousands, he died alone, isolated – a victim of covid, but also of government negligence. That is the consequence of social care system treated as a second-class service – too difficult for politicians to reform, too easy to ignore. Our family members paid the price. That is why social care reform cannot wait. The system is still not fit for purpose."
Andrea Egan, general secretary of UNISON, said: "The Conservative government's shameful response had devastating consequences for care staff and those depending on them in a sector already in crisis. Matt Hancock's boast of a protective ring around care homes can't hide the disgraceful truth. Staff were left without protective kit, appropriate testing, or even sick pay. Some social care staff even lost their lives looking after those in need. We owe it to them to ensure the same systemic failures never occur again."
Leaked messages and rule-breaking affair
Private messages exposed concerns about care-home deaths, ministers' public statements and Rishi Sunak's Eat Out To Help Out scheme. In April 2020, care minister Helen Whately warned Hancock that care-home death figures were "not good". He replied: "OK". The inquiry also saw exchanges between Professor Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance about claims that ministers had not known early on that people without symptoms could spread Covid.
Other messages revealed Hancock's concerns about Eat Out To Help Out, which offered discounted meals in August 2020. Writing to Simon Case on August 24, he said: "Just want to let you know directly that we have had lots of feedback that Eat our (sic) to help out is causing problems in our intervention areas. I've kept it out of the news but it's serious. So please please lets not allow the economic success of the scheme to lead to its extension". Case asked: "Have you told Rishi? I don't think he can afford to extend it!" Hancock's response included the admission: "we've been protecting them in the comms".
Hancock resigned as health secretary after leaked CCTV showed him embracing adviser Gina Coladangelo in his Whitehall office. The footage was recorded on May 6, 2021, while guidance urged people to stay two metres apart and avoid "face to face contact". During his time on I'm A Celebrity in 2022, Hancock said: "It's obviously been really tough. I messed up and I fessed up. I resigned. It's no excuse, but I fell in love, right? That also had a lot of other consequences as well." An investigation into the CCTV leak was later closed without anyone being prosecuted.
PPE contracts and TV ventures
Hancock also faced anger over the awarding of multimillion-pound contracts for protective equipment. At the inquiry, he defended the "VIP lane", which fast-tracked offers from suppliers with political connections. Former nurse Rachel Hext, who caught Covid at work and was left disabled by long Covid, condemned the handling of contracts. Speaking in 2025, Rachel said: "It was wholly inappropriate to award dodgy contracts when the nation was at absolute breaking point. The people undertook these contracts did so on false pretences, they were neither geared up to manufacture PPE to the right spec or to cope with the highly pressurised demand that was needed. The catastrophic failure to deliver good quality PPE in a timely fashion meant that thousands of frontline staff contracted Covid."
Hancock's move into reality TV brought further backlash. He declared a £320,000 payment for his I'm A Celebrity appearance and donated £10,000 to charity - around 3% of that sum. His book, Matt Hancock's Pandemic Diaries: The Inside Story of Britain's Battle Against Covid, entered the Neilson book charts at number 191 in early December 2022 but plummeted within weeks. He also appeared on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, broadcast in 2023, where he was punched in the face by former footballer Jermaine Pennant during a boxing drill. Reflecting on the clash, Hancock said: "It didn't hurt nearly as much as I expected actually, being smacked in the face."
