FOI-03490

Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

<strong>Request</strong>

You asked us:

<i>‘Claims made under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to Covid-19 vaccinations. Also claims that mention urticaria or hives. Include both successful and rejected claims.’</i>

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 31 December 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

<strong>Our response</strong>

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested.

<strong>Question 1 - Claims made under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to Covid-19 vaccinations.</strong>

Under Section 21 of the FOIA, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

The NHSBSA actively publishes information on claims made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) on the Open Data Portal for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 claims.

You can find the Open Data Portal at:

COVID-19 claims: https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/vdps-covid-19<br>
Non-COVID-19 claims: https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/vdps-non-covid-19 

To protect confidentiality, some cells published as part of the dataset were intentionally left blank where the number of claimants is fewer than five. As such the following information relates to different time periods.

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21 

<strong>Fewer than five</strong>

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the full details where the total number of individuals falls below five or has increased by fewer than five since we last answered this request. This is because the information is exempt under section 40(2) of the FOIA (personal information).

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:

a) it is not fair to disclose individual’s personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress<br>
b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the individual

Please see the following link to view the section 40 exemption in full: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

<strong>Breach of Confidentiality</strong>

Please note that the identification of individuals is also a breach of the common law duty of confidence. An individual who has been identified could make a claim against the NHSBSA for the disclosure of the confidential information.

The information requested is therefore being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 41(1) ‘Information provided in confidence’ of the FOIA.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/41

<strong>Question 2 - Also claims that mention urticaria or hives. Include both successful and rejected claims.</strong>

There have been no awarded claims that mention ‘urticaria’ or ‘hives’.  There have been 148 rejected claims that mentioned ‘urticaria’ and 15 rejected claims that mentioned ‘hives’.

Please note that we have only searched for claims that mention the exact terms requested.

<strong>Data Queries</strong>

Please contact <a href=mailto:foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk>foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a>  ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

<strong>Reusing the data and copyright</strong>

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact <a href=mailto:communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk>communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a>. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2026” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:<br>
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.


Tags: NHSBSA corporate, Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, nhsbsa, vdps
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log