FOI-02259

##Request

Low income scheme

•	The number of individuals, that fall under the responsibility of the NHS West Yorkshire ICB, who applied to the low income scheme between April 2023 and March 2024 (inclusive), split by their postcode (first part only).

•	The subsequent number of these individuals who were successful and gained certification for the low income scheme, split by partial/full entitlement, and their postcode (first part only)

•	The number, if any, of the applications between April 2023 and March 2024 (inclusive) that are unresolved, split by the individuals’ postcode (first part only).

HC5(T)

•	The total number of submitted HC5(T) forms from individuals, who fall under the responsibility of the NHS West Yorkshire ICB), between April 2023 and March 2024 (inclusive), split by their postcode (first part only).

•	The total number of unique individuals (who fall under the responsibility of the NHS West Yorkshire ICB) who submitted a HC5(T) form between between April 2023 and March 2024 (inclusive), split by their postcode (first part only).

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 26 September 2024. 

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

##Our response

###Number Of Individuals

We have considered this request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and are issuing a refusal notice under section 17 of the FOIA for part of this request. 

The NHSBSA does hold the requested information in relation to the number of unique individuals, however we estimate that the cost of compliance with the request would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12 of the FOIA. 

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.  

Please see the following calculations which set out the estimated cost for compliance with this request:

The information is held in a format which would require a manual review of applications to establish the number of unique individuals. It is possible that one individual may have applied multiple times in the financial year, therefore the volume of applications may not reflect the number of individuals. This manual review process takes between 60 and 90 seconds per application. The number of applications is 17,593 HC1s, plus 208 HC5(T)s, giving 17,801 total. Therefore, we estimate that answering this part of the request would take between 297 - 445 hours.

In accordance with the duty to advise and assist under section 16 of the FOIA 2000, please be advised that you may be able to submit a refined request by reducing the number of applications to check. For example, we may be able to establish the number of unique individuals who submitted applications by limiting the request to HC5(T)s only. Please be advised that any subsequent request may be subject to applicable exemptions under the FOIA.

Please see the following link to view the section 12 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/12 

###Remaining Information:

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information regarding the volume of applications and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached. 

__HC1:__ An application to the Low Income Scheme 

__HC2:__ Certificate for full help with health costs

__HC3:__ Certificate for limited help with health costs

__HC5(T):__ Refund claim form for travel costs to receive NHS treatment.

###Applications Unresolved

These figures include any case which has not had an outcome – i.e. have not yet been approved a HC2/HC3 or have been rejected.

##Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk 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 communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. 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 2024” 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: NHS Help With Health Costs, NHS Low Income Scheme
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log