Request

In FOI 24383, you confirmed the following:

1) There are exceptional circumstances where you would apply an administrative easement to a penalty even though liability is established because it is not in the patient's interests to apply a penalty.

2) 'There is no liability for a penalty charge where a patient can show that they did not act wrongfully, or with any lack of care...'

3) Under the heading 'Vulnerable Patients', 'NHSBSA will take into account the individual circumstances of patients and will deal sympathetically with patients who are in vulnerable groups...'

For the years in question, please provide the numbers of charges - and charge enquires - which resulted in a cancellation, easement, or waiver of the penalty - or potential penalty - for reasons other than that the patient was entitled to free prescriptions. Please provide separate figures for each of the three categories listed above.’

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 and below.

Please be advised that the attached information has been sourced from the easement tracker which is maintained manually. As such, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the data.

Additionally, easements are applied on a case-by-case basis, taking into account individual circumstances

Much of the easement case count include cases that had easement applied to them because the patient was entitled to free prescriptions, but an exemption certificate was not put in place before the case was issued.

Please be advised that "easement" or "waiver of the penalty" both have the same meaning and so both fall under the ‘EASEMENT_CASE_COUNT’ column.

The data provided is for the date range 01/01/2019 – 17/10/2025.

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” 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.