The COVID-19 pandemic was a huge shock to the United Kingdom and prompted an unprecedented government response, including shutting down vast swathes of normal life and the government paying the wages of around a third of the workforce. While the crisis was fundamentally one of public health, the wide-ranging impacts meant that HM Treasury – the UK’s economics and finance ministry – played a crucial role in the response.

This report examines two important aspects of that response: the role the Treasury played in designing and implementing labour market and business finance support schemes; and how the department contributed data and analysis to help inform decision making at the centre of government.

The aim of this report is to use the experience of the pandemic to draw lessons about what should be continued and what changed to strengthen the response to future crises, and to improve how the department operates in ‘normal’ times.