FOI-03514

Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

##Request 

<p><i>‘Since 1st October 2021, the number of applications approved for an IHS reimbursement and the total value of repayments requested by your organisation. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-health-surcharge-applying-for-a-refund/immigration-health-surcharge-guidance-for-reimbursement-2020)</i></p>

<p><i>Please break approvals and value of repayments requested down by 12 month period (e.g. 1 Oct 2021 - 30 Sept 2022 and so forth).’</i></p>

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 9 January 2026.  

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).  

##Our response 

I can confirm that we hold the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached. 

Please refer to the attached spreadsheet for the total number of approved immigration health surcharge (IHS) reimbursement applications since 1 October 2021. 

Please read the notes to ensure your correct understanding of the data. 

The data relates to approved applications for: 

- Health and Social Care 

- Dental Training Initiative (DTI) 

- the Medical Training Initiative (MTI) 

DTI data is only held from May 2024, when the scheme began operating. 

Data from 1 October 2025 period is a partial year, with data reported up to 14 January 2026. 

##Value of requested repayments 

We do hold the requested information; however, we estimate that the cost of compliance with the request would exceed the appropriate limit under FOIA section 12. 

We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450. The limit has been specified in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the NHSBSA holds the information, and locating, retrieving, extracting and checking the information.   

We initiate the reimbursement for the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) reimbursement scheme through the Home Office’s UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) payment portal in 6-month blocks. The UKVI system automatically calculates the reimbursement amount, which is then manually recorded on the NHSBSA customer’s case file. 

Please be advised that reimbursement data was not recorded by the NHSBSA from within the UKVI payment portal prior to 10 December 2021. There are 1,560 cases which would require manual extraction to identify if the information requested is held. Please note that each claim may include up to one applicant receiving reimbursement along with any number of dependants, each would need to be assessed individually. 

To investigate the 1,560 cases, it would require a manual check of each case history to identify the reimbursement amount generated in the UKVI payment portal against the reimbursement data recorded within our records management system. This would take an estimated total of five minutes to assess. 

As cases are closed in our records management system, an additional IT request is needed to re-open the case and then the data will need to be input manually to the case record.  This would take a further five minutes, making a total of ten minutes to check each applicable case. 

Please see the following calculation which sets out the estimated cost for compliance with this request: 

1,560 cases × 10 minutes per case to extract and retrieve = 15,600 minutes (260 hours estimate) 

This exceeds the statutory cost limit of 18 hours, and section 12 therefore still applies. 

Please be advised that due to the way that the information is held by the NHSBSA, it is not possible to submit a refined request under the appropriate limit.  

Please see the following link to view the section 12 in full -https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/12  

##Data Queries 

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. 

##Reusing the data and copyright 

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”. 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: IHS, IHS reimbursement, Immigration Health Surcharge
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log