FOI-03822

Thank you for your request for information about the following:

##Request

<i>The NHS Business Services Authority issues Penalty Charge Notices to individuals who claim free or reduced-cost NHS services to which they are not entitled. The NHSBSA case management system records the type of NHS service in respect of which the incorrect claim was made and the exemption category that was incorrectly claimed.
 
Please provide aggregated management information already held by the NHSBSA on the total number of Penalty Charge Notices issued, and the aggregate value of the underlying charges and surcharges, in each financial year from 2020-21 to most recently available date, broken down by:
 
(a)     The type of NHS service in respect of which the incorrect claim was made (for example prescription charges; NHS dental charges; optical charges); and

(b)     The exemption category that was incorrectly claimed (for example Universal Credit; income-related Employment and Support Allowance; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; HC2 certificate; tax credits exemption; medical exemption certificate; pre-payment certificate; age-based exemption).
 
For the purposes of this request, I define a Penalty Charge Notice as any notice issued under the NHS Penalty Charge regime in respect of an incorrect exemption claim.
 
If a combined cross-tabulation of service type by exemption category is not extractable as a single query within the cost limit, please treat the request for each breakdown as severable and provide each separately.
 
If any of the categories listed are not recorded as discrete fields in the NHSBSA case management system, please use whichever categorisation is applied internally and confirm which has been used.</i>

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 14 May 2026.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).  

##Our response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached.

##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: Penalty Charge Notice
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log