Covid inquiry must investigate workers’ deaths and the impacts of austerity

The TUC will today (Tuesday) make an opening statement to the Covid-19 Inquiry in its role as a core participant.

The inquiry, which begins its public hearings today, will hear evidence from the TUC’s Assistant General Secretary, Kate Bell, on a future date.

The TUC is representing its 48 affiliated unions and their 5.5 million members at the inquiry. The union body’s opening statement will cover:

• Fatalities of working people during the pandemic
• How a decade of cuts and underinvestment left our public services exposed and with weakened resilience as we entered the pandemic
• How our NHS and healthcare system was in crisis and already struggling to cope with increased demand as Covid-19 hit the UK
• How despite constant warnings the social care system was fragmented and under resourced
• How central government cuts to local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive left insufficient capacity for public health measures and health and safety inspection and enforcement.

TUC Assistant General Secretary Kate Bell said:

“Thousands of working-age people died of Covid. Many of them were key workers, serving the nation on the frontline of the pandemic without enough protection.

“It’s not easy to look back on such painful and tragic events. But there was injustice that the inquiry must investigate. We must understand why some groups of workers had higher fatality rates than others.

“When Covid hit, we needed strong and resilient public services. But our services had been cut to the bone, with staff shortages in the NHS and social care. The inquiry must take an unflinching look at how austerity left the nation dangerously exposed.

“This inquiry is our chance to learn vital lessons that will save lives and prevent injustice in a future pandemic. That’s why it is so important, and why everyone called to give evidence must cooperate in full.”