Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

You asked us:

‘4. ALL DATA USED TO MAKE THE DECISION

• internal summaries
• analysis documents
• risk assessments
• internal guidance
• criteria or scoring documents
• Assessor instruction materials’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 7 January 2026.

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

The following response does not relate to a specific claim or claimant. This request is being answered on a general basis as requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) are requester-blind, therefore the identity of the requester is not considered when responding to a request for information under FOIA.

Our response

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 our Principles of Medical Assessment document. The full document can be found at the web link below:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/vaccine-damage-payment-scheme-vdps-claim-process

All claims are assessed on a case-by-case basis by a medical assessor.

The eligibility criteria and medical assessment process is the same for all eligible vaccines: https://www.gov.uk/vaccine-damage-payment/eligibility

Medical assessors use resources to support their assessment. A list of resources is available at:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/vaccine-damage-payment-scheme-vdps-claim-process

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.