Petition · past parliament

Make New Years Honours List solely for Covid front line care workers,

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Make awards in the New Years Honours List solely to front line workers who have featured prominently in the battle against the Coronavirus. To include e.g. staff in hospitals, transport personnel and others who have gone above and beyond their normal job routine to help those in need at this time.
Because we believe our society needs to recognise the bravery, hard work and sheer selflessness of these workers who are rarely given the recognition they deserve for the work they do.
At this uniquely dangerous time for everyone in our country, a New Years Honours list consisting solely of these workers would send a powerful message of gratitude from the nation.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

We cannot accept petitions that call for specific awards or honours, such as the George Cross, to be given to individuals or organisations, because we can only accept petitions about matters for which the Government or Parliament are responsible for.

There is an independent process for considering nominations for awards and honours, and advising the Queen on granting these, so it is not something the Government or Parliament can do.

The Government has announced that it is delaying Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday honours list until the Autumn so people who have made a contribution to the fight against coronavirus can be recognised and celebrated: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/oliver-dowdens-statement-on-coronavirus-covid-19-20-may-2020

You can nominate someone who has made an exceptional contribution to the response to the coronavirus crisis in the UK for an award here: https://www.gov.uk/honours/nominate-someone-for-coronavirus-work

You may wish to sign these petitions calling for a similar action:

Award Covid-19 medals to all emergency services and involved armed forces: Award Covid-19 medals to all emergency services and involved armed forces

A medal to honour the fortitude of people working in essential occupations: A medal to honour the fortitude of people working in essential occupations

Award medals to the retired doctors and nurses who returned to NHS for COVID19: Award medals to the retired doctors and nurses who returned to NHS for COVID19

Award posthumous medals to NHS and other frontline workers; victims of covid-19: Award posthumous medals to NHS and other frontline workers; victims of covid-19.

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/

Timeline

14 May 2020 Petition opened for signatures
22 May 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 22 May 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.