Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many fines were levied on people who wrongly claimed free prescriptions in each year for which information is available; and how much money was raised for the public purse from those fines.
The NHS Business Services Authority assumed responsibility for the Prescription Exemption Checking Service in September 2014. The following table shows numbers of Penalty Charge Notices issued each year since then for individuals who have claimed exemption from prescription charges, but that exemption could not be verified. It also shows the funds recovered from this activity.
Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) issued year | PCNs Issued | Value recovered |
2014 | 35,812 | £525,658.38 |
2015 | 408,478 | £7,308,289.64 |
2016 | 864,366 | £13,825,459.09 |
2017 | 1,052,430 | £18,180,971.12 |
2018 | 629,202 | £9,745,351.97 |
Notes:
- Date range covered September 2014 – 1 July 2018
- Value recovered can change overtime