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Hush Hush — Sante Global's Secret Settlement with the UK Government

A £273 million Covid contract cancelled. A £100 million-plus court claim. And a settlement reached quietly in December 2025 — one week before Christmas — hidden permanently from public view by a Tomlin Order. UK taxpayers may never know what they paid.

Source Open & Candid / Brethren Exposed
Published December 2025
Category Politics · Contracts
Read time 8 min
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Key Figures
£273m
Value of the cancelled Covid test contract
£100m+
Damages claimed by Sante Global
Unknown
Settlement amount — hidden by Tomlin Order

In 2021, Sante Global LLP — owned by Gareth and Charles Hales, sons of PBCC leader Bruce Hales — was awarded a £273 million contract by the UK Government to supply Covid lateral flow tests. The contract was awarded jointly to Mornington 2000 LLP (trading as Sterilab Services), with Sante Global LLP named as the sub-contractor. The supply chain ran through a German intermediary, MP Biomedicals, to the Chinese manufacturer Xiamen Boson Biotech.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) subsequently cancelled the contract following an audit of the Chinese manufacturer's premises, which identified alleged violations of labour law, health and safety standards and worker payment obligations. Sante disputed the cancellation, arguing no breach of contract had occurred on their part, and issued proceedings claiming damages and interest in excess of £100 million for wrongful termination. A separate procurement claim alleged the DHSC had placed further orders with competitors after terminating the contract without offering Sante the opportunity to compete — potentially adding tens of millions more in damages.

For a full account of the original contract and the wider Hales Covid contract network, see Spoil the Egyptians — The Hales Family & Covid Contracts →

The Settlement

The case was scheduled to go to trial in June 2026. Instead, it was concluded quietly — one week before Christmas, on 17th December 2025. Judge Mr Justice Waksman ordered a Tomlin Order. The Caseboard website records the inferred case status as Concluded (Settled).

A Tomlin Order is a confidential court mechanism that freezes legal proceedings on agreed terms, placing the actual settlement in a private, sealed schedule that never enters the public court record. UK taxpayers will not know — and may never know — what the government agreed to pay Sante Global, if anything, or what other terms were reached.

What is a Tomlin Order?
A Tomlin Order is a confidential court order, named after Justice Tomlin (later Lord Tomlin) who established the practice in 1927. It stays legal proceedings on agreed terms, keeping the actual settlement in a private schedule separate from the public record.
  • Confidentiality: Settlement terms remain entirely private and are not published in court records.
  • Enforcement: If either party breaches the agreement, the other may apply to court to enforce it without filing fresh proceedings.
  • Flexibility: Allows terms a court could not normally order, including complex financial arrangements.
  • Common use: Complex or politically sensitive disputes where both parties wish to avoid public disclosure of the settlement.

The UK taxpayer funded every penny of these contracts. They have a right to know whether public money was paid to the Hales family in settlement. A Tomlin Order ensures they never will.

Open & Candid

The use of a Tomlin Order in this case raises significant public interest concerns. The contract was funded entirely by UK taxpayers. Sante Global's claim rested in part on evidence from a competitor who itself won hundreds of millions of pounds in Covid test contracts — a competitor with documented links to Dean Hales, the brother of Gareth and Charles Hales. The full picture of what was alleged, what was admitted and what was paid will remain permanently sealed.

Freedom of Information Request

Brethren Exposed has submitted a Freedom of Information request to the DHSC seeking answers to three questions:

Freedom of Information Request — DHSC
  1. Can the DHSC confirm that the case has been settled?
  2. Can the DHSC confirm whether any taxpayer money above court costs was paid as part of the settlement?
  3. Can the DHSC confirm the actual settlement amount — and if not, explain why not?

We will continue to press for transparency on a case that we believe is firmly in the public interest and deserves considerably more attention from the mainstream media than it has so far received. We will update this page as the FOI process develops.

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