Today marks the High Court deadline for PPE Medpro to repay £121.9 million to the UK government over a defective PPE contract awarded during the Covid-19 pandemic — but with the company now in administration and holding assets of just £666,000, there is little expectation the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will see the full amount returned.
The repayment order follows a High Court ruling earlier this month in which Mrs Justice Cockerill found that PPE Medpro had breached its contract to supply 25 million sterile surgical gowns. The gowns, while delivered in full, were deemed non-compliant after failing to meet sterilisation standards.
The court set a deadline of 4pm today (15 October 2025) for repayment. With the clock ticking, no indication has been given that the full sum will be paid, and insiders suggest the government could face the prospect of recovering substantially less — or potentially nothing at all.
Last week, Business Matters reported that the consortium behind PPE Medpro had approached the company’s administrators to express a willingness to enter settlement talks with the DHSC.
“On Friday, 11th October, it was made clear that the consortium partners of PPE Medpro are prepared to enter into discussions with the Government, via the administrators, to reach a possible settlement. This was made very public, and the Government was made aware of it. Yet, very disappointingly, the Government has made no effort to respond or seek to enter into discussions.” said a consortium spokesperson.
In June, PPE Medpro offered £23 million in a no-fault settlement. The DHSC rejected that offer, a move that has since drawn criticism given the company’s deteriorating financial position and the legal costs already incurred.
While Doug Barrowman and Baroness Michelle Mone are not personally liable for the money, Barrowman has acknowledged that £29 million in profit from the gown contract was placed into a trust benefitting his family — including Mone and her children.
However, PPE Medpro’s formal structure kept both figures at arms-length from the company’s directorship. The firm filed for insolvency just a day before the High Court ruling, meaning responsibility for recovering any assets now lies with court-appointed administrators, Forvis Mazars.
Insolvency experts say the administrators may consider pursuing other companies or individuals involved in the gown supply chain. Barrowman’s team has named two UK-registered companies as consortium partners — one has denied any connection, and two others have not responded to media enquiries.
In a comment to Sky News, Julie Palmer, partner at insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor, said: “The administrators will want to look at what happened to what look like significant profits made on these contracts… They may also want to consider whether there is a claim for wrongful trading… and claims may rest against shadow directors.”
In other words, if individuals were directing the company’s affairs behind the scenes — including potentially Baroness Mone or Barrowman — legal avenues could still be explored, albeit at significant time and cost.
DHSC under pressure over double standards
The DHSC has so far declined to comment. But criticism continues to mount over its handling of the PPE Medpro case — particularly when compared to the department’s quiet £5 million no-fault settlement with Primerdesign Ltd over a £135 million claim (more than the PPE Medpro case).
Despite multiple no-fault offers from PPE Medpro — including a full remake of the gown order — the government chose to pursue a full legal challenge, spending an estimated £5 million in public funds on litigation.
As Business Matters has reported extensively, the gowns — although rejected for failing to meet sterilisation criteria — were never suitable for NHS frontline use due to being single-bagged, a feature the DHSC failed to specify across its gown contracts. PPE Medpro maintains the gowns could have been resold internationally as non-sterile PPE, with an estimated market value of £85 million at the end of 2020.
With the repayment deadline now reached and PPE Medpro in administration, all eyes turn to the administrators, who face the unenviable task of tracing and recovering funds from a highly politicised and legally complex case.
Whether the government eventually sees a fraction of the £122 million — or whether this becomes yet another expensive Covid-era procurement write-off — remains to be seen.
