Request

‘Please can you provide information under the Freedom of information act for the following questions about the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme;

1, What changes have been made to the assessment process of vaccine damage payment applications since the NHSBSA took over the scheme from the DWP?

2, To determine eligibility for the vaccine damage payment, are there any differences between the way COVID-19 vaccination applications and non COVID-19 applications are assessed?

3, Are there specific guidelines in the way COVID-19 applications are assessed? If so can you provide details?

4, Have the NHSBSA been provided with specific instructions by the government when dealing with COVID-19 Vaccine applications?’

Response

Question 1

Following the transfer of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) in November 2021, we have procured a new contract with Crawford & Co for the completion of medical assessments for COVID-19 claims. All non-COVID-19 claims are currently assessed by the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) which is the contract held by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

When the current contract with CHDA ends in October 2022, Crawford & Co will begin to assess all claims made to the VDPS.

Questions 2 and 3

There are no differences in the way eligibility is determined for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 claims. All claims are medically assessed by an independent, experienced medical assessor. Claims are assessed on a case-by-case basis, according to the criteria for the scheme.

Payments are made when it can be established, on the balance of probabilities, that the disablement was caused by a vaccination covered by the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), and that the resulting disablement is severe (60% or more).

The NHSBSA does not hold any guidelines as described in your request.

Question 4

As administrators of the scheme, NHSBSA work collaboratively with Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) as the policy holder. Specifically, when questions arise pertaining to the Vaccine Damage Payment Act (VDPA) or the policy governing the scheme.

For questions about policy, please contact DHSC at the following address:

Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries Unit

Department of Health and Social Care

39 Victoria Street

London

SW1H 0EU

Contact form https://contactus.dhsc.gov.uk/

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: “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.