Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

On 9th December 2024, Mr Andrew Gwynne MP stated that:

"Between 1 November 2021 and 1 December 2024, the total spent by the NHS Business Services Authority on behalf of the Department on legal fees to defend against appeals within the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was £50,608."

[https://policymogul.com/parliamentary-record/written-q-and-a/288910/vaccine-damage-payment-scheme?topic-id=none]

Please provide (a) the number of Tribunal cases between those two dates which were included in the overall cost of £50,608 and (b) provide details of the criteria used to define "appeals" in this context eg automatic reversals, First Tier Tribunals, Upper Tier Tribunals (and others) and provide a breakdown of the numbers included for each

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 13 December 2024.

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

Our response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested.

If the claimant for a Vaccine Damage Payment disagrees with the independent medical assessor’s decision in relation to a mandatory reversal and they want to challenge it, they can either:

• submit a reversal – this means the claim will be reassessed. There is no limit on the number of times a claimant can make this request.

• submit an appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal. Tribunals are managed by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and the figures above only include legal fees paid to our third-party supplier and do not include costs paid to HMTCS.

The NHSBSA takes an objective approach at all stages of the appeals process and welcomes any teaching that the courts provide. More information on this process is available on the following website: https://www.gov.uk/vaccine-damage-payment/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision

(a) the number of Tribunal cases between those two dates which were included in the overall cost of £50,608

a. We cannot provide this information as the total relates to Tribunals which are still on-going with HMCTS as well as advice provided in relation to Tribunals on an ad hoc basis.

b) provide details of the criteria used to define "appeals" in this context eg automatic reversals, First Tier Tribunals, Upper Tier Tribunals (and others) and provide a breakdown of the numbers included for each

b. All appeals were first tier Tribunals.

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-02447

Your personal details will be removed from the published response.

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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 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

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