Request

Please advise how much this pointless exercise has cost the NHS to date

Response

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority. This is because the cost of pursuing Penalty Charge Notices is not tracked on an individual basis.

Staff and other costs used are not dedicated to this service but rather they are used by a number of other services as well. In addition, each customer may have different interactions with the NHSBSA as part of this service. As a result, the NHSBSA does not track or record the costs related to each individual case. Therefore, it is correct that the NHSBSA does not hold the information you requested.

We do hold the overall costs of running the service and the number of individuals processed within it. Whilst you could work out an average individual from these figures it would not answer your question as each case may use different resources with different costs.

We would be able to provide you with general information regarding the cost of running the service, please let us know if this information would be applicable to you.