Say sorry to children for Covid errors, ex-children’s commissioner tells ministers

October 2, 2025

This part of the inquiry is looking at the impact of the pandemic on children and young people, and whether they were considered in key decisions made by government.

Schools were closed in March 2020 and again in January 2021.

Baroness Longfield said whoever is prime minister at the time of the inquiry’s final report should say sorry to children because of the damage done to their education and wellbeing at the time of the pandemic.

Giving evidence to the inquiry on Thursday, she described an “impasse” over the issue of schools reopening during Covid.

She told the inquiry the Department for Education (DfE) had said they weren’t allowed to reopen schools because Public Health England (PHE) wouldn’t let them.

The inquiry heard she had then spoken to the chief executive of PHE, who was “aghast” that this might be the case and described a set of guidelines which provided a framework for schools reopening.

“I ended up with a brokerage role to bring [DfE and PHE] together,” she said.

“I think it’s very clear that throughout the process, mistakes were made, children were overlooked and there were mistakes and decisions that went against children’s best interests.”