Every Story Matters – Covid-19 Inquiry
Every Story Matters is a chance to share your thoughts, feelings and experiences of the pandemic. Every experience shared will feed into the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, and will help the Inquiry understand the impact of Covid-19 and shape future recommendations.
What is Every Story Matters?
Every Story Matters is a way for the public to share their experiences of the coronavirus pandemic with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. You can submit your story online, by post or telephone.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is the independent public inquiry set up to look at the UK’s response to and impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and learn lessons for the future.
Age UK are working with The UK Covid-19 Inquiry to make sure that older people’s experiences are heard and represented in the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
Why should I share my experience?
The pandemic had a huge impact on older people. Age UK has heard from, and continues to hear from, many older people and their families and friends about their experiences and the impact it continues to have on older people.
We want to make sure that older people’s voices and stories are part of the evidence collected for the Inquiry so that lessons can be learned and used to shape future recommendations.
What will happen to the stories I share?
The experiences you share will be anonymous and all stories will be collected and analysed and made into reports. These reports will then be submitted to the Inquiry to help inform the recommendations and learnings.
How do I share my story?
There are three ways you can share your experiences of the coronavirus pandemic:
- Online. Share your story online by filling out a form on the Covid-19 Inquiry website.
- By phone. You can share your story over the phone by making a free phone call the Age UK Covid-19 Inquiry line on 08000 322 550. Lines are open Monday to Friday, from 10am to 4pm.
- By post. You can get a paper form either by emailing contact@covid19.publicinquiry.uk, or by writing to FREEPOST, UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry.
If you're living in Scotland, or did during the pandemic, there's a separate Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry where you can share your experiences. You can share with the UK Inquiry the Scottish Inquiry or both.
More questions about Every Story Matters
What kind of stories can I share?
We'd like to hear from all older people about their experiences, both positive and negative. You can tell us about one particular experience or topic that's important to you, or you can share your wider experiences more generally – whatever feels right for you.
What will happen when I call Age UK’s Inquiry telephone line?
One of our trained call handlers will answer and ask you to share your experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic. They'll have prompts to help you, but they're there to listen to your story. They'll write up your story and experiences and submit this to Every Story Matters.
What else are Age UK doing to represent older people in the Covid-19 Inquiry?
Age UK is providing evidence for the legal side of the Covid-19 Inquiry. The responses that are given to Every Story Matters won't feature as part of Age UK’s legal evidence as they are being given through different channels.
However, we're using stories and experiences shared with us during the pandemic to inform our legal evidence and will continue to do so where relevant.
We're here to help
We offer support through our free advice line on 0800 678 1602. Lines are open 8am-7pm, 365 days a year. We also have specialist advisers at over 120 local Age UKs.