Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 5 December 2025.
Rebecca Paul
Opposition Assistant Whip (Commons)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS penalty charges for incorrectly claimed free prescriptions have been issued to individuals who qualified for but did not hold NHS medical exemption certificates in the last 12 months.
Rebecca Paul
Opposition Assistant Whip (Commons)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of issuing penalty charge notices as a deterrent against improper claims of free NHS prescriptions.
Zubir Ahmed
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
From November 2024 to October 2025, the NHS Business Service Authority issued 47,058 penalty charge notices (PCNs) to people who claimed a medical exemption but were found to have no exemption in place when checked. Of these, 21,328 were eased, for various reasons including the patient subsequently applying for an exemption successfully. The number of easements in this category cannot be confirmed. Of the 47,058 PCNs issued 3,583 people received multiple PCNs.
Although the Department has made no formal assessment of the effectiveness of issuing PCNs as a deterrent against improper claims, the fact that the vast Majority who receive one PCN do not go on to receive another would, in my opinion, suggest a potential deterrent effect.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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