Covid-19 pandemic: Support for the bereaved

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

On 20 March 2025, the House of Lords is scheduled to debate the following motion:

The Lord Bishop of London to ask His Majesty’s Government, following the Covid-19 Day of Reflection, what steps they are taking to improve support offered to people bereaved as a result of Covid-19.

1.   Overview: Covid-19 pandemic in the UK

In January 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern following a number of cases in Wuhan, China.^[1] In the following weeks, cases of the virus were reported across the world, including in the UK.

The UK government introduced restrictions to contain the spread of the disease in March 2020.^[2] These included national lockdowns where people were required to stay at home, and led to schools, workplaces and social spaces being largely closed. Restrictions on in-person socialising were also created. These measures continued at varying levels until February 2022.^[3] In May 2023, the WHO declared the virus was no longer being considered a global health emergency.^[4]

In July 2023, it was reported that just under 227,000 people died in the UK with Covid-19 listed as one of the causes on their death certificate.^[5] The Office for National Statistics also estimated that more than 44 million people in the UK had the virus between April 2020 and February 2022; however, the total number of infections will never be known. The UK Health Security Agency continues to publish data on the number of Covid-19 cases, deaths and hospitalisations.^[6] The most recent data showed that in the seven days to 5 March 2025, 827 cases were reported. In the seven days to 28 February 2025, there were 67 deaths registered with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate and 868 patients admitted to hospital.

2.   Support available for people bereaved due to Covid-19

2.1 Government support for bereaved families

The government’s webpages relating to the Covid-19 Day of Reflection included information on the help and support available to those who lost loved ones.^[7] It outlined details of community groups which promote remembrance and offer support for those who lost loved ones. It also set out information on bereavement support by signposting visitors to:

• a government website page setting out the information on bereavement help and support, including a list of organisations that offer information, support and services
• NHS guidance on grief
• the AtaLoss charity which provides a variety of support relating to bereavement

The government also offers some benefits and financial support to help with costs and funeral expenses when someone dies.^[8] In May 2020, the then secretary of state for work and pensions, Thérèse Coffey, noted the availability of this help when asked how bereaved families were being supported in light of the pandemic.^[9] Ms Coffey highlighted the bereavement support payment, which she said helps working-age people who have lost a spouse or civil partner after 6 April 2017 by contributing to the more immediate costs associated with bereavement. This payment is not taxable nor means-tested; however, the amount a claimant receives is dependent on their relationship to the deceased, when they make their claim and when they reach state pension age.^[10] Other benefits and financial support available for those experiencing bereavement include child benefit if a child or parent dies, funeral expenses payment, guardian’s allowance, support for child funeral costs, statutory parental bereavement pay and leave, universal credit, and widowed parent’s allowance.^[11]

During the pandemic, the then government also announced a bereavement scheme to allow families of NHS support staff and care workers who were non-UK nationals and died with coronavirus to stay in the UK permanently.^[12] The scheme was later extended to include more roles within healthcare, including cleaners and porters.

2.2 Previous government support

In 2020, the government announced new death in service benefits for frontline health and care staff: the ‘NHS and social care coronavirus life assurance scheme’.^[13] This entitled families of eligible workers who died from coronavirus in the course of their frontline essential work to a £60,000 payment. The scheme covered frontline NHS staff and social care workers in England. The government said that funding was also provided to devolved administrations to support similar schemes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The scheme was time limited, with the government saying it provided cover for the duration of the pandemic. On its introduction, the scheme was widely welcomed across political parties and other stakeholders.^[14]

In March 2023, the trade union UNISON reported that fewer than 800 families had received the payment despite official figures showing that more than 2,000 deaths involving Covid-19 occurred among health and care staff.^[15] UNISON said that this could lead to millions of pounds of compensation going unclaimed, with the scheme due to close at the end of March 2023. The scheme was later extended to 30 September 2023.^[16] In August 2023, shortly before the scheme’s closure, the Department of Health and Social Care said that while take up of the scheme by NHS staff dependents had been “relatively high”, the number of claimants in the social care sector had been “much lower” than it should have been.

2.3 Other bereavement support

The Covid-19 Families for Justice is a group of nearly 7,000 bereaved people from around the UK that campaigns to “ensure that our losses are learnt from and that the terrible mistakes made during the pandemic are never repeated again”.^[17] The group’s website contains resources to support those who have suffered a bereavement. This includes information on a private Facebook group people can join as well as links to relevant helplines, support groups, counselling and online information.^[18]

2.4 UK Covid-19 Inquiry

In June 2022, the then Conservative government announced a statutory independent inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.^[19] This inquiry is examining the UK’s response to, as well as the impact of, the pandemic and looks to learn lessons for the future. Its work has been divided into ten modules covering various aspects of the pandemic.^[20] In July 2024, the inquiry published its first report and recommendations following its investigation into the UK’s resilience and preparedness (module 1).^[21]

The inquiry’s website also sets out support information.^[22] Stating that the inquiry understands that the pandemic affected people in different ways, and the process of investigating the pandemic can cause distress, the inquiry listed a number of organisations which can provide support on different issues, including bereavement. The inquiry has also said that it takes a trauma-informed approach to avoid retraumatising or distressing people who give evidence.^[23]

The Covid-19 Families for Justice group campaigned for the creation of the inquiry and has said it is working to ensure that the voices of the bereaved are “at the core of all of the inquiry’s work”.^[24]

In its 2024 King’s Speech, the government said that it would take action to improve assistance for bereaved persons and core participants at inquests and public inquiries alongside its plans to implement a ‘Hillsborough law’.^[25] In its 2024 general election manifesto, the government also said that it would act on the findings of several inquiries, including the Covid-19 inquiry.^[26]

3.   Covid-19 Day of Reflection

3.1 Background to the Covid-19 Day of Reflection

The UK Commission for Covid Commemoration was established to “secure a broad consensus” from the whole of the UK on how to commemorate the Covid-19 pandemic at both the community and national level.^[27] In September 2023, the commission published its final report including ten recommendations. Its first recommendation was that:

A UK-wide day of reflection should be established and held annually on the first Sunday of March.^[28]

Following the release of the report, the first annual Covid-19 Day of Reflection was held on 3 March 2024.^[29]

In December 2024, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Lisa Nandy, told the House of Commons that the new government would continue to honour this recommendation.^[30] She emphasised that the day would be an opportunity for people to:

• remember and commemorate those who lost their lives since the pandemic began
• reflect on the sacrifices made by many and the impact the pandemic had on the nation and our daily lives
• pay tribute and honour the work of health and social care staff, frontline workers, researchers and all those who volunteered and showed acts of kindness during this unprecedented time

3.2  Covid-19 Day of Reflection 2025

This year’s Covid-19 Day of Reflection on 9 March 2025 marked five years since the start of the pandemic.^[31] In a press release, the government said that the day would be marked with local events in communities around the country, with members of the public invited to take part in ways that are meaningful to them. It said that the “hundreds of events and spaces for reflection” would commemorate those who lost their lives during the pandemic and provide an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made, as well as the impact the pandemic had on our daily lives. Commemorations planned for 2025 included:

• A procession along the national Covid-19 memorial wall, followed by a ceremony, a minute’s silence and flowers being cast from Lambeth Bridge in London.
• NHS Charities Together holding an event at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to commemorate the lives lost and to pay tribute to the critical role of the NHS, its workforce and charities during the pandemic.
• Manchester Cathedral hosting a special prayer service to honour and reflect upon the experiences felt by the Black, Caribbean and African communities during the pandemic.
• Local authorities recognising the day in various ways. For example, in Sheffield the city council partnered with a community-led, NHS-funded programme, Compassionate Sheffield, for commemoration, speeches and a showing of the ‘Stories from the pandemic’ documentary.
• Covid-19 Families Scotland hosted an event outdoors at Glasgow Green which included a piper, choir and a minute’s silence.
• In Treorchy, South Wales, the Covid bereaved gathered to remember their loved ones and placed name flags in a yellow heart made of local stones created in 2021 on Bwlch Mountain.
• In Belfast, Memory Stones of Love, a group set up by bereaved families during the pandemic, marked the day by holding a remembrance concert, as well as displaying their stones featuring inscriptions of those lost during the pandemic.

4.   Read more

• National Centre for Social Research and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, ‘The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on bereavement and grief’, February 2023
• University of Liverpool, ‘The lived experiences of people bereaved by Covid-19’, accessed 13 March 2025

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Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash