Request

How many claims (successful and unsuccessful) have been made to the vaccine damage payment scheme each year regarding the MMR vaccine since 1992

Response

Claims concluded before 1 November 2021

The Department of Health and Social Care requested the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) transfer to NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from 1 November 2021.

I am therefore writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested on claims for a Vaccine Damage Payment relating to Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccines which were concluded before 1 November 2021 is not held by the NHSBSA.

Claims concluded on or after 1 November 2021

All data as of 22 January 2024. All data relates to claims received by the NHSBSA and those transferred from the DWP on 1 November 2021. All figures provided relate to MMR vaccines. Each claim is looked at by an independent, third party medical assessor. The independent medical assessor advises if a claimant is entitled to a Vaccine Damage Payment, based on whether: • the vaccine, on the balance of probabilities, caused the disability (causation); and • the resulting disablement is severe. Severely disabled means at least 60% disabled, assessed for the purposes of section 103 of The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. Further principles for assessing the extent of disablement are set out in the Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982 (legislation.gov.uk).

Please note, that the year an outcome was communicated to the claimant might differ from the year the claim was registered. As part of the process of the scheme, we need a full set of medical records for each claimant, and it can take time for the claimant’s healthcare providers to gather and securely supply copies of these records.

Fewer than five

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the full details where the total number of individuals falls below five. This is because the individuals could be identified, when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available.

This information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:

a) it is not fair to disclose patients’ personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress. b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the patients.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.     www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40    

Breach of confidentiality

Please note that the identification of individuals is also a breach of the common law duty of confidence. An individual who has been identified could make a claim against the NHSBSA for the disclosure of the confidential information.  

The information requested is therefore being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 41(1) ‘Information provided in confidence’ of the Freedom of Information Act.  

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.  

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/41    

Year of claim 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 Total MMR claims for a Vaccine Damage Payment 0 <5 18 26 8 Total MMR claims awarded a Vaccine Damage Payment 0 0 0 0 0 Total rejected MMR claims for a Vaccine Damage Payment 0 <5 18 26 8

Please note that this request and our response is published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01675