COVID-19 Care Home Litigation: Successful Strike-Out of Claims against UK Government

Robert Dickason represents the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in successfully striking out claims arising from the Government’s hospital discharge policy during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this litigation, claims were brought on behalf of care home residents who were alleged to have contracted Covid-19 as a result of the Government’s hospital discharge policy in place in late March and early April 2020. It was alleged that this led to the seeding of Covid-19 within care homes by discharged patients who were infectious but asymptomatic. Claims were also brought against the residents’ care homes in relation to alleged failures to prevent the transmission of Covid-19 within the homes.

The cases followed a 2022 High Court judicial review that held the policy had been unlawful as it failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable care home residents of asymptomatic transmission of the virus.

The Claimants contended that the Secretary of State’s and care homes’ alleged failures materially contributed to, or alternatively materially increased the risk of (per Fairchild), residents contracting Covid-19.

Following hearing in December 2025, Master Davison rejected those arguments, finding that the claims could not be proved by reliance on material contribution or Fairchild principles. The claims were to be resolved by application of orthodox but-for causation principles, which the Claimants accepted they could not satisfy. They were accordingly bound to fail and fell to be struck out.

The full judgment is available at Rehman & ors v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care & ors [2026] EWHC 6 (KB).

Find out more

Robert Dickason is an established leading junior in clinical negligence and has particular experience in personal injury, health and injury related group litigation, product liability, and health and safety.

Appointed to the Attorney General’s A Panel, Robert regularly represents the UK Government in those fields, as well as at inquests and public inquiries, and in claims concerning human rights and national security. Current/recent Governmental instructions include representing the Ministry of Defence in relation to Gulf War Syndrome/Illness claims by military veterans following Gulf War deployment in the 1990s, the Contaminated Blood Products Group Litigation; the UK Covid 19 Inquiry, and the abovementioned Covid-19 care home discharge litigation.

To find out more about Robert, contact Paul Barton on +44 (0)20 7427 4709 or Ben Fitzgerald on +44 (0)203 758 4759.

News 14 Jan, 2026