CPS response to COVID-19: 16 March to 8 May 2020 (1 MB)

This report is the first stage of looking at how the organisations we inspect have responded during the global COVID-19 pandemic. It looks at the CPS’s response during the period of lockdown from 16 March to 8 May, when movement was extremely limited. The decisions made during this period were, in some instances, a matter of life and death.

The inspection has been conducted at speed to allow for the publication of the report as close to the period of lockdown as possible. We followed the usual phases of inspection but truncated the timescales of some aspects. Because of COVID-19, our on-site visits took place virtually.

We plan to carry out a more extensive inspection, likely in 2021, which will examine the recovery phase in greater detail and also look more closely at stakeholder relationships and their impacts, both at the initial stages and as recovery plans are developed.