Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many active legal cases are open against the NHS.

NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England.

NHSR handles negligence claims on behalf of the members of their indemnity schemes. The indemnity schemes are divided into clinical and non-clinical negligence schemes.

Clinical negligence schemes:

• the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) handles all clinical negligence claims against member NHS bodies where the incident in question took place on or after 1 April 1995, or when the body joined the scheme if that is later;
• the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP) covers clinical negligence claims for incidents occurring in general practice on or after 1 April 2019;

• the Existing Liabilities Scheme for General Practice (ELSGP) covers historic NHS clinical negligence of staff of GP members of participating medical defence organisations occurring before 1 April 2019;
• The Clinical Negligence Scheme for Coronavirus (CNSC) meets clinical negligence liabilities arising from NHS services provided in response to the coronavirus pandemic where no other indemnity or insurance arrangements are in place already to cover such liabilities.

• DHSC Clinical (DH CL) covers clinical negligence liabilities that have transferred to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care following the abolition of any relevant health bodies;
• The Existing Liabilities Scheme (ELS) covers clinical negligence claims against NHS organisations for incidents occurring before 1 April 1995; and

Non clinical negligence schemes:

• the Liabilities to Third Parties Scheme (LTPS) covers non-clinical claims such as public and employers’ liability;
• the Property Expenses Schemes (PES) covers ‘first party’ losses such as property damage and theft, for incidents on or after 1 April 1999; and
• DHSC Non-clinical (DH Liab) covers non-clinical negligence liabilities that have transferred to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care following the abolition of any relevant health bodies.

NHSR has provided the attached information:

Table 1: Number of Clinical and Non-Clinical Claims received between Financial Years '2006/07' and '2024/25' where the status of the claim was open as at 31/03/2025. Broken down by Scheme (as noted above).

Table 2: Number of Clinical and Non-Clinical Claims and Incidents received between Financial Years '2006/07' and '2024/25' where the status was 'Open' or 'Incident' as at 31/03/2025. Broken down by Scheme (as noted above).

Note: NHSR defines an ‘open’ claim as one where NHSR is yet to settle or claims that have settled but remain open, where NHSR are yet to agree costs. NHSR has not included cases which are settled but remain open due to ongoing periodical order payments.

The distinction between Table 1 and Table 2 is that Table 2 includes incidents reported to NHSR that have not yet progressed to a formal notification of claim. NHSR encourages its members and beneficiaries to report such incidents directly, even prior to the receipt of a claim.