Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 82861 on Prescriptions: Fees and Charges, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) amending the process for applying for a maternity exemption certificate and (b) extending the backdating period for successful applications.

A healthcare professional, such as a midwife, practice nurse, health visitor or general practitioner, can complete the maternity exemption (MATEX) application as soon as they have confirmed the pregnancy, birth, or stillbirth. This confirms the individual is eligible for a MATEX certificate and acts as a mechanism of transferring evidence of eligibility from the patient’s individual health records to national systems and systems used by community pharmacies.

The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2015 allow for a MATEX certificate to be backdated one month before the date on which the application is received by the NHS Business Services Authority, the organisation which processes applications. The one-month backdating of certificates is a longstanding provision to allow for the administration time taken to receive, process and post a paper MATEX certificate to the patient, and also applies to digital certificates. The regulations do not allow a MATEX certificate to be backdated further and there are no current plans to amend this.