Contracts

How Bruce Hales three sons built a £2.575 billion Covid contract empire across five countries — and pursued £100 million more in the courts.

A £273m cancelled contract, a court claim, and a settlement hidden permanently from taxpayers by a Tomlin Order signed one week before Christmas 2025.

A company that did not exist in April 2020 reported $737m in Australian income by June 2022. Identified government contracts account for $72m. The $665m gap remains unexplained.

Medco Solutions paid £160m in admin fees to an undisclosed recipient while winning £1bn in DHSC contracts. Was 2San the wholesale partner behind it?

Mark Hewlett oversaw £1.1bn in UKHSA contracts. Five weeks after leaving, he was CEO of a company registered at the same Sydney address as the contract winners.

Harmony Fire, part-owned by Charles Hales, won a £61m council contract from a framework where only two firms were eligible — both run by the same Brethren family.

Unispace, Medco, 2San, Sterilab and six more companies connecting the four sons of Bruce Hales to the UK's largest Covid contract awards.

£126 million in PPE contracts, no prior PPE experience, a House of Lords speech alleging the £117m gown contract used a competitor's intelligence, five court cases and a Conservative MP whose wife's company became their PR firm.

A Hull pharma packaging company won £115 million via the VIP channel. Three years of accounts show no evidence it was delivered. They joined a £3 billion framework — and in December 2023 sued the government.

£950m in contracts. £668m turnover over two years. £606k profit. £204k tax. £158m to related parties. Both directors registered property companies for £1 on the same day in September 2020 — now worth £40m combined.

A published contract worth £4m awarded via the VIP channel. DHSC payments of £35.9m. Turnover jumping £60m in a year. Three Brethren companies at the same ministerial roundtable a fortnight before the award. And £6.2m in commissions paid to an unlimited company that filed no accounts.

Two VIP channel contracts totalling £40.5m for disposable coveralls. Around 25% — £10.6m — subsequently marked Do Not Supply. A trust structure that avoids publishing accounts. And a direct family connection to a Cabinet minister.

A Northern Ireland coffee and confectionery wholesaler with £276k in net assets and accounts prepared by UBT was awarded two DHSC contracts totalling £107.5m. Both quality certificates came from the same Taiwan Intertek office on the same date. The manufacturer of the larger contract is redacted.

The founding investigation asking who referred an office design company to the VIP lane that led to £680 million in DHSC contracts. It has since been widely reported the referral came from Michael Gove. First published February 2022.

The genesis article, published December 2020 — 14 months before The Times. Four geographic clusters, six findings documented nowhere else: Gregory Hales at CMT Equipment, Lester Martin's Bruce Hales connection, Blueleaf at Helen Whately's roundtable, the Inivos/Unispace webinar, Wingplast/Medco and Archer Marketing.

The Drake family's clinical bed company won an £18.7m VIP lane contract for RT-PCR testing — at an undisclosed location in Europe. Referred by Lord Lansley, former Health Secretary. Tim Drake had previously organised PBCC leafleting for Lansley as South Cambridgeshire MP. TMVO Ltd: the Drakes' registered non-party campaign organisation.

HMRC's December 2020 furlough data revealed 13 PBCC PPE contract winners had also claimed furlough. Techniclean Supply (£20m contract) led the list. CMT Equipment claimed despite its owner Anthony Hazell's role directing the £680m Unispace contract stream.

Published February 2021. Unispace won ~$15m in California, $11.5m in Maryland and $1.9m in Louisiana under no-bid emergency procurement. The global scale of the Hales family's pandemic-era operation extended to US state governments simultaneously with the UK's £680m VIP lane contracts.

Published October 2021, three months before The Times. Medco Solutions (£2 share capital, 19 months old) had won £690m in LFT contracts. The Sterilabs £271m contract, when opened, listed Sante Global LLP as co-supplier. The first documented account of the hidden Sante partnership.