Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘Was the assessor assigned to my case paid by the NHS to undertake that work

Is the assessor or was the assessor at the time of the assessment on the payroll of the NHS

Did the independent assessor undertake the assessment free of charge or favour for the NHS’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 2 February 2025.

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

Our response

Please accept my sincerest apologies for the delay in this response. This was due to an administrative error.

The NHSBSA administers the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) on behalf of Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and contracts a third-party supplier, Crawford & Company, for the provision of medical assessments under the scheme.

Crawford & Company are paid by the NHSBSA as per the agreed contract charges.

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: “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.