Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act I am requesting the following.

• The number of Penalty Charge Notices issued to patients suspected of misclaiming i) free NHS prescriptions and ii) ii) NHS dental treatment, by month from Jan 2019 to present.

• The cash value of Penalty Charge Notices issued to patients suspected of misclaiming i) free NHS prescriptions and ii) ii) NHS dental treatment, by month from Jan 2019 to present.

• The number of Penalty Charge Notices challenged, for misclaiming i) free NHS prescriptions and ii) ii) NHS dental treatment, by month from Jan 2019 to present.

• The number of challenges that resulted in PCNs being overturned for misclaiming i) free NHS prescriptions and ii) ii) NHS dental treatment, by month from Jan 2019 to present.

• The cash value of PCNs overturned for misclaiming i) free NHS prescriptions and ii) ii) NHS dental treatment, by month from Jan 2019 to present.

• The template first letters sent to targets suspected of misclaiming free NHS dental care. This would include i) the current version (as of April 2022), and those in effect at the start of ii) ii) 2019 and iii) iii) 2020 calendar years.

Response

Templates

Please find attached the current wording of the initial enquiry letter which is sent to our customers. We are assuming is what you mean by “first letter”. These were not sent in 2019 or 2020 so older versions are not held. The information contained with our templates has been provided in plain text format as we do not want our letter templates to be obtained and used by the general public for illegal purposes.

Number Challenged

Due to the way the information is recorded, it is not possible to provide figures on the exact number of PCNs which were challenged, as PCNs can be challenged informally without this being recorded. We have been able to confirm the number overturned, as per your request, as the result of a successful challenge.

Remaining Information

A copy of the information is attached. Please note that, for a period during the Coronavirus pandemic, no penalty charges were issued, which is why some months appear missing from the data.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact dataandinsightsupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk 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: “NHSBSA Copyright 2022” 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.