In May 2025, ILPA’s Legal Director, Zoe Bantleman, attended a COVID-19 Inquiry roundtable to discuss the impact of the pandemic on the justice system and for immigration and asylum.
Today, the Justice system Roundtable Summary Report, has been published by the Inquiry.
The report makes ten references to ILPA’s contributions, including:
- The lack of clarity regarding when and which legal practitioners were key workers within the justice system, which affected case preparation, collection of and access to important documents. As a lesson for future pandemics, the roundtables suggested:
‘A clear definition of key workers in the justice system: All Justice workers should be given key worker status during a future pandemic to support them in performing essential duties, such as attending court proceedings and preparing evidence. It would also enhance their access to necessary PPE, safeguarding their health and ensuring the continued functioning of the justice system.’
Legal representatives should be consistently recognised as key workers to enable them to continue working and progress cases.’
- The need for recalibration in the post-pandemic world, as measures such as remote legal advice for vulnerable persons have endured from what were unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic, potentially sacrificing fairness in the name of efficiency and cost-reduction.
- The lack of clear guidance, transparency, and legal certainty regarding the COVID-19 immigration schemes, assurances, and concessions meant these helpful measures, at a time of global travel restrictions, were not as effective as they could have been — individuals unnecessarily lost their immigration status and consequentially their ability to work and access essential services.
- Insufficient flexibility in immigration requirements and consideration of the compounding effect of the pandemic with Brexit: ‘The overlap of the first worldwide pandemic with Brexit meant people were unable to meet requirements for reasons outside of their control.’
- A detrimental shift towards overcrowded and poor quality, institutional asylum accommodation, which was a “contingency” and has now been normalised, such as asylum hotels and army barracks.
- Inadequate mental health support, COVID-19 guidance, available to migrants, in a language they could understand, affecting mental health, resulting in information gaps concerning Covid-19 measures, healthcare access, policy changes, vaccines, and failing to counteract the fear of accessing healthcare for persons without documented immigration status and those without a registered GP. The roundtable suggested that:
‘In future pandemics, effective steps should be taken to address the concern that healthcare data collected would be shared with immigration authorities. This was seen as important for building trust, which would then help alleviate fears and misinformation amongst migrants and asylum seekers. Healthcare should be made accessible by providing support and information in different languages.’
We are grateful to Baroness Hallett for providing us with an opportunity to contribute to Module 10 of the COVID-19 Inquiry. We welcome the Inquiry’s close scrutiny of these important issues, which demonstrate the pandemic’s impact on society and recommend lessons to be learned for future pandemics.
ILPA Chief Executive, Anthony Essien, commented:
“In May 2025, ILPA’s Legal Director joined a UK COVID‑19 Inquiry roundtable exploring how the pandemic reshaped justice for people in immigration and asylum, and with it society. Today’s publication summarises contributions to that discussion. Contributors, like ILPA, raised concerns about unclear key worker status, opaque concessions, and the normalisation of ‘contingency’ institutional accommodation and their impact on fairness. Looking ahead to any future pandemic, contributors proposed clear key worker definitions, transparent rules that prevent loss of status, humane accommodation, and multilingual healthcare access safeguarded by a robust NHS immigration data firewall. We thank Baroness Hallett and the Inquiry for listening.”
16 February 2026
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About ILPA
The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (‘ILPA’) is a professional association and registered charity, the majority of whose members are barristers, solicitors, and advocates practising in all aspects of immigration, asylum, and nationality law. Academics, non-governmental organisations, and individuals with a substantial interest in the law are also members. ILPA exists to promote and improve advice and representation in immigration, asylum, and nationality law; to act as an information and knowledge resource for members of the immigration law profession; and to help ensure a fair and human rights-based immigration and asylum system. ILPA is represented on numerous government, official, and non-governmental advisory groups and regularly provides evidence to parliamentary and official inquiries.
- Document Date
- Monday February 16, 2026