Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

You asked us:

I cannot easily find a way to access the contractual agreement between UK Gov/NHS and the Independent Medical Assessors.

I would like to request access to this document and any related procurement/supplier agreement for VDPS.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 11 March 2026.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

Our response

I cannot easily find a way to access the contractual agreement between UK Gov/NHS and the Independent Medical Assessors.

I would like to request access to this document and any related procurement/supplier agreement for VDPS.

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 information you requested is available in the public domain. The NHSBSA contracts third party medical assessment suppliers to complete medical assessments for Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) claims. Medical assessors use resources to support their assessment, including, but not limited to, some, or all of the following:

• Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme - Principles of Medical Assessment Guidance
• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) data, including Yellow Card information on suspected safety concerns involving a healthcare product: https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/
• Vaccine product information and updates.
• The Green Book - a reference material produced by the UK Health Security Agency and used by healthcare professionals in the UK. The Green Book brings together all documents relating to immunisation against infectious diseases. Visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immunisation-against-infectious-disease-the-green-book-front-cover-and-contents-page for more details.
• Detailed guidance on disablement assessments relating to Schedule 2 of The Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982 (legislation.gov.uk), which have been developed by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1982/1408/schedule/2
• World Health Organization (WHO) documents.
• Established and accepted medical epidemiological research papers.
• Past tribunal decisions and case law.

More information on the claim process is available on the NHSBSA website:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/vdps-claim-process

The Crawford & Company contract began in March 2022 and is available in response to a previous request FOI request (FOI-01680) under the section ‘Data and Resources’.

You can view our response to FOI-01680 at:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01680

The Maximus contract was signed in February 2026 and can be found at: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/018732-2026

Additionally, there were two short term Clinical Assurance and Interim Assessments contracts which ran between 27 May 2022 and 31 December 2022. The contract for Clinical Assurance and Interim Assessments can be found at:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a993829a-e6cd-47cb-b89d-1ed6aca25eb3

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21

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” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:
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.