I am writing to confirm that I have now completed my search for the information which you requested.
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I understand that the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), in its role supporting NHS England and local commissioners, provides a range of platforms and services relating to NHS dental contractors — including claims processing, assurance activity, and contractor compliance functions.
With that context in mind, I am seeking anonymized, non-personal statistical data regarding dental contractor complaints and compliance issues, specifically as recorded or processed by NHSBSA in its administration of dental services (including through systems such as Compass, Provider Assurance, or related internal logging tools). The scope is limited to NHS dental providers and dental contractors in England.
Please provide the following data for the past five financial years (2019/20 to 2023/24):
- Aggregated Complaint Totals (Dental Contractors)
• The total number of complaints, concerns, or compliance issues logged by NHSBSA relating to NHS dental contractors.
• If available, a breakdown by issue type or internal category (e.g., payment disputes, service quality concerns, contractor non-compliance, fraud/error referrals, etc.).
- Complaint Outcomes (if recorded)
• For each year, the number of complaints or concerns that were:
a. Resolved informally or through contractor communication;
b. Referred to NHS England or ICBs for further action;
c. Resulted in contract suspension, penalty charge, or termination;
d. Logged but closed with no further action.
Notes:
• I am requesting only anonymized, non-identifiable, aggregated data.
• No patient-level data, individual practitioner data, or personal data is being sought.
• If the data is held in grouped formats, predefined dropdowns, or internal categories, I am happy to accept those as they are used.
• If any part of this request requires clarification, I am happy to cooperate under Section 16 of FOIA to refine it. I also welcome partial disclosures where full data is not available.
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 22 April 2025.
We requested clarification on this request on 8 May 2025:
Are you also requesting information we hold with regards to dental practices KO41b submissions?
This collects information monitoring written complaints received by dental practices.
You responded in 8 May 2025 with the below:
Yes, I’m happy to confirm that I am also requesting information you hold in relation to KO41b submissions where they pertain to NHS dental practices in England. I would welcome any anonymized and aggregated data you can provide from these submissions, particularly where it relates to written complaints recorded by dental contractors over the past five financial years (2019/20 to 2023/24).
If KO41b data overlaps or complements the other complaint and compliance statistics I originally requested (e.g. Compass or Provider Assurance systems), I’d be grateful if that could be reflected in the disclosure.
We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
Our 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
Please provide the following data for the past five financial years (2019/20 to 2023/24):
- Aggregated Complaint Totals (Dental Contractors)
• The total number of complaints, concerns, or compliance issues logged by NHSBSA relating to NHS dental contractors.
• If available, a breakdown by issue type or internal category (e.g., payment disputes, service quality concerns, contractor non-compliance, fraud/error referrals, etc.).
Total number of complaints is 190. A breakdown of these complaints have been attached.
Question 2a
- Complaint Outcomes (if recorded)
• For each year, the number of complaints or concerns that were:
a. Resolved informally or through contractor communication;
Data for Question 2a is on the attached spreadsheet.
Question 2b - 2d
- Complaint Outcomes (if recorded)
• For each year, the number of complaints or concerns that were:
b. Referred to NHS England or ICBs for further action;
c. Resulted in contract suspension, penalty charge, or termination;
d. Logged but closed with no further action.
We have considered this request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and are issuing a refusal notice under section 17 of the FOIA.
The NHSBSA does hold the requested information; however, we estimate that the cost of compliance with the request would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12 of the FOIA.
We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450. The limit has been specified in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the NHSBSA holds the information, and locating, retrieving, extracting and checking the information.
Please see the following calculations which sets out the estimated cost for compliance with this request:
Each complaint has multiple notes attached which will need to be checked. There are 2970 notes to be checked, which will take approximately 30 seconds. As such, this activity would take 24 hours 45 minutes.
Please be advised that due to the way that the information is held by the NHSBSA, it is not possible to submit a refined request under the appropriate limit.
Please see the following link to view the section 12 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/12
Question 3 (Clarification)
Yes, I’m happy to confirm that I am also requesting information you hold in relation to KO41b submissions where they pertain to NHS dental practices in England. I would welcome any anonymized and aggregated data you can provide from these submissions, particularly where it relates to written complaints recorded by dental contractors over the past five financial years (2019/20 to 2023/24).
I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA.
Advice and Assistance
Having reviewed your request, I believe that it is possible that NHS England may hold some or all of the information you require. They can be contacted at:
NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
Telephone 0300 311 22 33
Email: england.contactus@nhs.net
Web http://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/foi/
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.
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-02771
Your personal details will be removed from the published response.
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 2025” 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.
