The claim challenged the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it had on care home residents during the first wave of the pandemic.

The Divisional Court (Bean LJ and Garnham J) declared that two of the policies under challenge, issued in March and April 2020, were unlawful because, in deciding to adopt the policies, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care failed to take into account the relevant consideration of the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from asymptomatic transmission. Accordingly the policies were irrational in failing to advise that where an asymptomatic patient (other than one who had tested negative for COVID-19) was admitted to a care home, he or she should, so far as practicable, be kept apart from other residents for 14 days.

The Claimants’ other grounds of challenge, including their claims under the Human Rights Act 1998, were dismissed. The claim against NHS England was also dismissed.

The claim, which covered matters of significant public interest and tested the boundaries of the role of the courts in judicial review proceedings as well as the Government’s legal responsibilities in the context of an unprecedented public health emergency, is listed in The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2022.

The full judgment can be found here.

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