Request

You asked us:

1. ‘Could you tell me how much Crawford and Co have been paid to carry out medical assessments for people claiming under the VDPS for damage caused by the Covid vaccines?

2. Could you tell me how many medical assessments Crawford and Co have carried out to date, in regard to the Covid vaccine?

3. Could you tell me how much the VDPS has paid for damage caused by the Covid vaccines?

4. Could you tell me what the rationale for a 60 per cent disability cut-off is please? When was this determined and why?’

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information is below. All information provided is as of 31 January 2025.

Question 1 - Could you tell me how much Crawford and Co have been paid to carry out medical assessments for people claiming under the VDPS for damage caused by the Covid vaccines?

£27,264,896 has been paid to Crawford & Company for the assessment of COVID-19 related claims for a Vaccine Damage Payment. This includes reassessments.

Question 2 - Could you tell me how many medical assessments Crawford and Co have carried out to date, in regard to the Covid vaccine?

Crawford & Company have carried out 12,891 COVID-19 related medical assessments. This number includes reassessments.

Question 3 - Could you tell me how much the VDPS has paid for damage caused by the Covid vaccines?

In our response to FOI-02416 we said 197 claimants had received a Vaccine Damage Payment. This totals £23,640,000.

Due to the small changes in numbers since our response to FOI-02416, we’re unable to disclose how many claimants received a Vaccine Damage Payment as of 31 January 2025. However, we can disclose the number of claimants who have been told they are entitled to a Vaccine Damage Payment.

203 claimants have been notified they are entitled to a Vaccine Damage Payment. This totals £24,360,000. Not all of these claimants have received their payment yet. This is because we are waiting for further information from the claimant. For example, their bank details.

A Vaccine Damage Payment is a one-off payment of £120,000. It is not treated as compensation.

Question 4 - Could you tell me what the rationale for a 60 per cent disability cut-off is please? When was this determined and why?’

When originally passed, the Vaccine Damage Payments Act defined severe disablement as in excess of 80%. From 16 June 2002, this was changed to being defined as disablement of 60% or more. 

We do not hold information on why this was determined. Please be advised that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is responsible for the policy and legislation that governs the VDPS. You therefore may wish to redirect any further requests for policy-related information directly to DHSC. They can be contacted at the following address:

Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries Unit
Department of Health and Social Care
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU
Contact form https://contactus.dhsc.gov.uk/

Scheme criteria Under DHSC’s rules for the scheme, to qualify for a Vaccine Damage Payment, it must be proved that an eligible vaccine was received and:

• on the balance of probabilities, the vaccine caused the disability; and

• the resulting disablement is severe (60% or more)

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.

These regulations can be found at the below web link: • https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1982/1408/schedule/2 • https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/4/contents

Eligibility criteria, including a list of eligible vaccines is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/vaccine-damage-payment

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: “Dental Services, NHSBSA Copyright 2025” 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