Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Penalty Charge Notices issued for maternity exemption certificates that could not be validated but who were eligible for the exemption on pregnant women and new mothers.

The maternity exemption, known as matex, and penalty charge notices (PCNs) are administered by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) on behalf of the Department. The NHS BSA has adopted a policy of waiving the penalty charge for the matex, if a patient’s midwife or other clinician is able to submit a completed application for an exemption certificate within 60 days of receipt of the PCN. The matex certificate issued during this 60-day grace period can only be backdated one month from the date of application which means that the patient is still liable for any prescription charges that should have been paid before a valid matex certificate was put in place.