Request

1) How many claims have been made to the VDPS due to an adverse reaction to a covid vaccine?

2)How many claims have been assessed by a medical assessor?

3)How many claims are in the process of being assessed? This meaning they have been passed to the medical assessor.

4)How many claims have been successful?

5)How many claims have been rejected / unsuccessful?

6)What are the reasons for claims being rejected (causation, not meeting 60% threshold, ineligible to claim.) Please provide numbers?

7) Is it possible to give a breakdown of the conditions that have met the criteria e.g VITT, GBS?.’

8) How many claims have been waiting over 12 months, 18 months for a decision?

Response

All data is as of 10 January 2023, with the exception of question 4 and 7, relating to claims received by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) and those transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 1 November 2021. All figures provided below relate to COVID-19 vaccinations:

1) 3,393 claims have been received by the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS).

2) 524 claims have completed medical assessment. All assessments are subject to quality audit before the outcome is communicated to ensure claimants receive a fully considered outcome.

3) 1,348 claims have been submitted to an independent medical assessor for assessment.

4) As of 1 December 2022, 31 claims had been successful. Since that time, fewer than 5 claims have been successful.

Fewer Than 5

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the exact number of awards, as the number of awarded claims since 1 December 2022 and your request on 27 December 2022 is fewer than 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 claimant 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 claimant.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

Breach of Patient 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.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/41

5) 491 submitted claims have been rejected and a further 15 did not meet the criteria for medical assessment.

6) 469 claims have been rejected where causation was not accepted, 22 claims have been rejected where causation was accepted but disablement assessed at less than 60%, and 15 claims have been rejected where the application was invalid in not meeting the eligibility criteria for the scheme .

7) Please see attached data, which is based on the 31 claims awarded a Vaccine Damage Payment as of 1 December 2022.

8) 405 claims have been waiting for a decision for over 12 months and 117 claims have been waiting for a decision for over 18 months.

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.