Firms who supplied unusable PPE are still raking in cash from NHS contracts

Now Tom Hayhoe has been appointed by the covid corruption commissioner, we’re suggesting that he starts by looking at the firms who supplied unusable PPE during the pandemic still raking it in from big contracts with the NHS.

As the Tories scrambled to restock depleted stores of protective masks, gloves and gowns during the pandemic, they spent billions on equipment that was defective or unsuitable for the NHS. Good Law Project can reveal that 16 companies which supplied £115m of PPE marked “do not supply” are still making vast profits supplying equipment to the NHS, landing work for the supply of goods worth some £79.58m since January 2024.

Analysis of official spend records shows that many of these have bagged long-term contracts as part of group awards, with some of them due to run until 2028. Some of these companies had little or no experience selling to the NHS before the pandemic, and some are owned by people who have made massive donations to the Tories.

Globus Shetland didn’t manage to land a single contract with the NHS in the five years before the pandemic, but picked up contracts for more than £108m between April and July 2020. Between 2016 and 2020, the company gave the Tories more than £375,500. Its CEO, Haraldur Agustsson has also been spotted at meetings of The Leaders Group – a Tory members club that connects business people with politicians for a £50,000 annual fee.

According to the health department, £2.74m worth of the PPE Globus supplied was unfit for use in the NHS. But the firm has made £455,338 so far this year, and is one of the companies listed in a £260m group contract that runs to September 2027. 

Other firms, despite their ongoing contracts with the NHS, are now in administration in the UK, like US-based Gojo Industries, which is closing down operations in Europe. Gojo supplied PPE worth over £66,000 that was deemed unusable in a front-line setting. 

According to the health department, firms that provided unusable equipment marked “do not supply” can still bag further deals.

“There could be a number of reasons that products are placed in this category which is not an automatic bar to future public-sector procurement,” the department explained.

Globus Shetland, Gojo and SCCL did not respond to a request for comment. 

With £8.7bn spent on unfit PPE, there’s already plenty of work for the newly appointed covid corruption commissioner to get through on his one year contract on only three days a week . But the commissioner must also examine the ongoing scandal of firms whose failure during the pandemic has been rewarded with contracts that will see them raking in cash far into the future.

CORRECTION: 06/12/24

This article was amended on 6 December 2024 to remove mention of the companies 365 Healthcare and Bunzl. 365 Healthcare was acquired by Mediq in December 2022. We have updated the figures in the article to reflect this change in ownership.