Health Services: British Nationals Abroad

(asked on 25th September 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many outstanding claims for healthcare cover under the S1 scheme there were on 25 September 2019.


Answered by
Edward Argar Portrait
Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 3rd October 2019

I laid a Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1832 on 26 September 2019, setting out the transitional healthcare arrangements across the European Union that the Department has put in place if we are unable to secure a deal. The contingency arrangements will cover all those living in an EU or European Free Trade Area member state who are eligible for a healthcare S1 form at the time the United Kingdom leaves the EU even if they have not yet obtained that form at the time the UK leaves the EU.

The NHS Business Services Authority only issues healthcare S1s. It does not issue S1 forms for posted workers which are issued by HM Revenue and Customs. Pensioners do not need to apply to renew their form. When the NHS Business Services Authority record a registered S1, there is no ability to capture the date the S1 was received, only the date it was processed.

At the end of calendar year 2018, the UK had outstanding reciprocal healthcare claims valued at £307 million, including for the S1 scheme.

The NHS Business Services Authority does not have data regarding the number of UK citizens that have a right to healthcare cover in the EU. The total number of registered UK S1s is 152,000 (excluding Ireland). For the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019, there were a total of 35,535 S1 applications, of which 10,908 have been registered on NHS Business Services Authority systems.

Reticulating Splines