The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has today (Monday 24 November 2025) published its Every Story Matters record for Module 9, which examines the government’s economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic (Module 9 scope).
Ito latest record is published on the opening day of public hearings for the Inquiry’s penultimate investigation: ‘Economic Response’ (Module 9). The investigation covers the economic support provided during the pandemic for businesses, jobs, the self-employed, vulnerable people, and those on benefits and the effectiveness of this support. The module will also consider additional funding given to relevant public services and the voluntary and community sectors.
Witnesses who made key economic decisions including former Government ministers, lead civil servants, economic policy experts and representatives from the Bank of England will be called to give evidence.
The next four weeks of public hearings are the final weeks of evidence of 2025. This year the Inquiry has already heard from 224 witnesses across 19 previous weeks of hearings covering five different investigations. The Inquiry’s final three weeks of hearings are scheduled for 2026, investigating ‘Impact on Society’ (Module 10) and taking place from 16 February to 5 March 2026.
Every Story Matters is the largest public engagement exercise ever undertaken by a UK public inquiry. It gave people the opportunity to share their stories with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry to help inform its findings and recommendations. From the 58,000 stories shared through Every Story Matters, this latest record draws on over 8,000 stories, including insights from 25 public events held across the UK and 273 research interviews in which people described their or their organisations’ experiences of economic support during the pandemic.
The record reveals that for some, help felt inaccessible, like they were being passed “from pillar to post”. Others felt that the measures put in place “saved” their careers and provided peace of mind during an extremely stressful and deeply uncertain period. The record sets out a wide range of candid experiences including:
- Intense and sometimes prolonged feelings of shock, anxiety and uncertainty about work and finances at the beginning of the pandemic, due to business and organisations closing with very short-notice which caused immediate disruption to income.
- Financial hardship for those on Universal Credit but also those who were financially comfortable prior to the pandemic and saw their incomes heavily reduced due to insufficient support. Often individuals struggled to afford essentials and relied on food banks, charities, taking on debt or using personal savings.
- Challenges faced by business owners who were required to adapt quickly to remote working. Those who were unable to adapt faced the possibility of significant financial losses, the emotional toll of having to make staff redundant or having to close their business altogether.
- Delays in receiving financial support or difficulties in accessing support at all, especially for the self-employed or those on zero-hours contracts. This caused financial strain, increasing stress and anxiety for those waiting for support, particularly when contributors had no income while they waited to see if they were eligible.
- Positive stories of economic support easing anxiety and in some cases giving people the opportunity to adapt and upskill.
- Longer term economic impacts, including reduced hours, job losses and a competitive job market. This led to extended unemployment and severe financial hardship for many.
- Many younger people leaving full-time education found it difficult to find work, highlighting that this had long-term impacts on their career prospects.
Today the Inquiry begins four weeks of hearings investigating the effectiveness of economic support measures put in place throughout the pandemic.
The stories in this Every Story Matters record demonstrate that many individuals and businesses relied heavily on the economic support provided during this unprecedented period. The record also highlights some of the challenges that were faced by individuals, including people who were self-employed, employers, employees and business owners during this period, with some still feeling the economic and emotional impact today.
I would like to thank every one of the tens of thousands of people who shared their stories with Every Story Matters. Their contributions will help the UK learn lessons for the future.
On 23 May 2025, Every Story Matters closed as the Inquiry reached the end of this vital phase of gathering stories to inform the Chair’s investigations. Every Story Matters records have already been used in hearings alongside witness evidence and expert reports and they will continue to be used until the end of the Inquiry.
Every Story Matters records help the Chair, Baroness Hallett, to reach conclusions and make recommendations for the future. Four other records have been published so far: ‘Healthcare Systems’ (September 2024), ‘Vaccines and Therapeutics‘ (January 2025), ‘Test, Trace and Isolate‘ (May 2025), ‘Care Sector‘ (June 2025) and ‘Children and Young People’ (September 2025).
The Inquiry has so far published two of its reports, Module 1 covering ‘Resilience and Preparedness’ and Module 2 covering ‘Core UK Decision-Making and Political Governance’ which was published on 20 November 2025.
Featured in the latest Every Story Matters record, individuals and business owners describe their interactions with economic support provided during the pandemic, including views on what worked well and what support they felt was lacking:
Some people told us about the economic shock they experienced at the beginning of the pandemic.
I literally had nothing. No income at all. As soon as we were locked in or locked down, whatever way you put it, my income stopped that day, literally. All the jobs I had booked in previously were literally cancelled by my customers... Suddenly [I] had no income, but the same bills.
Many people were confused by the economic support available and found it hard to know what support, if any, they were eligible for.
I remember seeing some funds and thinking, 'Why aren't we eligible for that?’ Just because we've got reserves we're being penalised, and actually we've made an effort to make sure we've got reserves and all those kind of things … Some staff felt very strongly about the crisis grants, that we should have got it.
For some, the economic support provided during the pandemic gave them a chance to step back and re-evaluate their business strategy.
It gave me the opportunity to slow down and do some planning and I actually did renovations to my studio. I was able to get the Bounce Back Loan. It was something I never could have done whilst I had to be open every week doing shoots ... so, it was actually quite a positive impact.
Some people felt that they ‘slipped through the cracks’ of the support that was available, causing them a great deal of stress.
I think anyone that was self-employed was absolutely, for a while, left very much to their own devices.”
Many spoke about how grateful they were for the furlough scheme, and how this gave them peace of mind in a very uncertain period.
I was extremely impressed by the way our government quickly introduced the furlough scheme so that we did not panic about how we would survive financially.’
Those who were unemployed shared how they struggled to make ends meet.
When I lost my source of income, I was unable to cover just my rent with Universal Credit alone ... So we had to rely on food banks to survive, and I built up rent arrears which has never happened before in the 12 years I'd been privately renting.
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The Inquiry acknowledges that some content in the record and the extracts above may be distressing or triggering for some people. If you are affected by this content, please know that support services are available via the Inquiry website.