Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I am contacting you to request information regarding the vaccination damage payment scheme.

Please can you provide the following information for the calendar years 2018, 2020 and 2021 so far;

How many vaccination damage claims have been made for each year?

How many vaccination damages compensation payments have successfully been made in each calendar year?

How many compensation claims have been made in relation to the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine?

How many compensation claims for the AstraZeneca vaccine were successfully paid? What is the most expensive compensation payment for vaccine damages and in what year? Which vaccine did the most expensive pay-out relate to?

Response

Question 1

Total claims made:

2018: 80 2019: 54 2020: 98 2021: 669

Although you did not include 2019 in your request, we’ve assumed this was an accidental omission, so we’ve included that information.

Question 2

10 claims have been paid from 2018 to 2020. There have been zero paid in 2021.

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the yearly breakdowns as the annual number of claims paid falls below 5. This is because the claimants could be identified, when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available.

This information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as: a) it is not fair to disclose claimants’ personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress. b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the claimants.

Breach of Claimant confidentiality

Please note that the identification of claimants is also a breach of the common law duty of confidence. A claimant who has been identified could make a claim against the NHSBSA or yourself for the disclosure of the confidential information.

The information requested is therefore being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 41(1) ‘Information provided in confidence’ of the Freedom of Information Act.

Question 3 to 6

I am writing to advise you that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority.

We do not routinely record data about which vaccination an award has been made in respect of.

The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) claim form requires a claimant to list all the vaccinations they have received, not just those they believe to have caused the disability.

The VDPS is not a compensation scheme. It provides a one-off tax free payment, currently £120,000, to successful applicants who, on very rare occasions, are severely disabled as a result of vaccination against a specified disease, within the meaning of the Vaccine Damage Payments Act.

Previous payment amounts: • £10,000 for claims made from 9 May 1978 • £20,000 for claims made on or after 16 August 1985 • £30,000 for claims made on or after 15 April 1991 • £40,000 for claims made on or after 01 July 1998 • £100,000 for claims made on or after 22 July 2000 • £120,000 for claims made on or after 12 July 2007 The payment is determined by the date the claim is received by the Vaccine Damage Payments Team (VDPT). Due to the time it takes to assess a claim, an award may not be made in the same year that the claim was submitted. For more information on the scheme, please visit https://www.gov.uk/vaccine-damage-payment

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. 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: “Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, NHSBSA Copyright 2021” 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.