Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘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)

Please break approvals and value of repayments requested down by 12 month period (e.g. 1 Oct 2021 - 30 Sept 2022 and so forth).’

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 request repayment of the immigration health surcharge (IHS) through the Home Office’s UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) portal. The UKVI system automatically calculates the repayment amount, which is then manually recorded on the NHSBSA customer’s case file and therefore may be subject to human error. 

For this reason, a manual review of 352,259 applications dating back to October 2021 would be required to ensure accuracy. We estimate that it would take approximately five minutes to manually interrogate each application.

Please see the following calculations which sets out the estimated cost for compliance with this request:

352,259 x 5 minutes = 1,761,295 minutes (29,354 hours)

We therefore 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 we hold the information, and locating, retrieving, extracting and checking the information.

Please be advised that due to the way that we hold the information, it is not possible to submit a refined request under the appropriate limit.

To view section 12 in full: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/12

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 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.