NHS: Negligence
(asked on 12th May 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the Claimant’s costs paid by the NHS in all clinical negligence claims under £25,000 in 2023-24 were (a) legal costs, (b) disbursements and (c) VAT.
NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the national Health Service in England. The following table shows the total legal costs paid for claimants due to clinical negligence claims closed in the financial year 2023/24, where damages were paid up to £25,000:
Damages tranche | Claimant legal costs paid by NHSR |
£1 to £1,500 | £2,422,432 |
£1,501 to £25,000 | £94,364,395 |
Total | £96,786,827 |
Claims closed in 2023/24 will often have been settled in previous years, as costs can take some time to finalise after an agreement on damages. NHSR does not record a breakdown of claimant legal costs between profit costs and disbursements in its claims management system. It also does not record a breakdown for expert fees.