Request

You asked us:

Thank you for the response to freedom of information request -Ref: FOI 01878 where you responded.

"Where appropriate our team is able to signpost claimants towards mental health support, bereavement support, support for older adults, support for young people, support with long term conditions, support for carers, financial support and other advice dependent upon their individual circumstances."

Please can you provide the following information?

1) How many claimants have been signposted to other support services?

2) Which services have they been referred to and how many to each service?

3) Who decides when to refer a claimant to another support service? Is it at the claimants request or is this only offered when the VDPS caseworker decides it is appropriate?

4) How does a claimant know the option to be referred to another service is available?

5) How does a caseworker know when to refer to another service?

6) Does the VDPS have any plans to inform claimants of other services they maybe able to seek support from without asking for this information or being signposted, (if it is not already routinely offered)?

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is handling your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.

Question 1

You asked: 1) How many claimants have been signposted to other support services?

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds information meeting the description specified in your request. However, I estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450. The estimate is as follows:

As of 4 June, NHSBSA had received 14,010 claims. In order to understand which claimants had been signposted to other support services, individual electronic folders would require review of the correspondence shared. At an average of 2 minutes per review, based upon a sampling exercise, this activity would take 467 hours to conduct.

The limit has been specified in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244/contents/made and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the NHSBSA holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. I am therefore issuing a refusal notice under section 12 of the FOIA for this element of your request as complying would exceed this.

Question 2

You asked: 2) Which services have they been referred to and how many to each service?

The NHSBSA have signposted claimants to Citizens Advice, Samaritans and where appropriate, have requested welfare checks. NHSBSA have, on occasion, signposted claimants to their GP and NHS Mental Health Services.

The NHSBSA is unable to provide a number for how many have been referred to each service. This is because I estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450. The estimate is as follows:

As of 4 June, NHSBSA had received 14,010 claims. In order to understand which claimants had been signposted to other support services, individual electronic folders would require review of the correspondence shared. At an average of 2 minutes per review, based upon a sampling exercise, this activity would take 467 hours to conduct.

The limit has been specified in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244/contents/made and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the NHSBSA holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. I am therefore issuing a refusal notice under section 12 of the FOIA for this element of your request as complying would exceed this.

Question 3 and 5

You asked: 3) Who decides when to refer a claimant to another support service? Is it at the claimants request or is this only offered when the VDPS caseworker decides it is appropriate? 5) How does a caseworker know when to refer to another service?

The NHSBSA Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme (VDPS) team will consider the needs of the applicant on a case-by-case basis when determining whether additional signposting is required. This includes the information provided by the applicant during and after the application process and following the outcome report provided by the independent medical assessor. This includes mental health support and financial support.

If a claimant was to request support, they would also be provided with the appropriate signposting dependent upon their individual circumstances.

Question 4

You asked: 4) How does a claimant know the option to be referred to another service is available?

The NHSBSA provide contacts for financial support available online at: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/claim-vaccine-damage-payment under the “Other help you can get from the government” heading.

The NHSBSA are unable to respond on behalf of claimants in relation to the available signposting and their awareness of this.

Question 6

You asked: 6) Does the VDPS have any plans to inform claimants of other services they maybe able to seek support from without asking for this information or being signposted, (if it is not already routinely offered)?

The NHSBSA already provide contacts for financial support available online at: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/claim-vaccine-damage-payment under the “Other help you can get from the government” heading. The NHSBSA are considering the information shared on their website and are exploring further appropriate signposting. If you have any feedback on this, please feel free to contact the VDPS team directly with more information.

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

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.

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement:

“Dental Services, NHSBSA Copyright 2022” This information is licensed under the terms of the Open Government License:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the license.

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.