Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to end the practice of GPs charging patients for letters to prove sickness in support of debt collection, housing or welfare claims.

General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors who hold contracts with NHS England to provide primary medical services for the National Health Service. Under the terms of their contract, GPs are required to provide certain medical reports or complete certain forms, such as those required to support a claim for incapacity benefit, free of charge to their registered patients.

Outside of contractual requirements, GPs also provide a variety of other services which successive governments have regarded as private matters between the patient and the GP providing these services. In such cases, decisions on whether to charge a fee and the level of the fee charged are at the GP’s discretion. Where GPs intend to charge for services to patients, the British Medical Association (BMA) advises them to forewarn patients, at the earliest opportunity, of the likely level of fees. The BMA also produces guidance on the level of fees that should be charged for various services.