Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

1. In the last five years [Between April 6 - April 5 2019/2020, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24] How many PCNs have been issued to people claiming free prescriptions or dental treatment they were not entitled to? Broken down by year.

a. What is the monetary value of those fines? Broken down by year.

b) Of these, what is the monetary value of the amount that was recovered? Broken down by year.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on Thursday 15 August 2024.

We clarified your request regarding the formatting of the queries on Thursday 15 August 2024. You then replied and confirmed your request on Thursday 22 August 2024.

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

Our response

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

Please read the notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

• The data is based on the 1 April - 31 March financial year for the periods of 2019/2020, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24.

• Prescription Exemption Checking Service (PECS) and Dental Exemption Checking Service (DECS) combined, the below doesn't ask for them to be separated.

• Value Issued includes all charge types, Prescription, Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and Standard Charge Notice (SCN)

• Value Recovered includes all charge types, Prescription, PCN and SCN

Publishing this response

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02157

Your personal details will be removed from the published response.

Data Queries

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. 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 2024” 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.