Maternity Services: Negligence
(asked on 14th January 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much NHS England has spent on maternity negligence claims in each of the past 10 years.
NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England.
The following table shows the total payments for maternity, including obstetrics and neonatology, clinical claims between 2015/16 and 2024/25, broken down by primary specialty and payment year:
Payment Year | Obstetrics (£) | Neonatology (£) | Total Maternity (£) |
2015/16 | 508,103,281 | 194,645 | 508,297,926 |
2016/17 | 581,810,308 | 202,864 | 582,013,172 |
2017/18 | 915,659,658 | 302,381 | 915,962,039 |
2018/19 | 950,627,331 | 634,451 | 951,261,782 |
2019/20 | 902,715,840 | 1,297,437 | 904,013,277 |
2020/21 | 849,970,193 | 3,715,683 | 853,685,876 |
2021/22 | 906,061,294 | 3,213,166 | 909,274,459 |
2022/23 | 1,086,187,276 | 20,097,430 | 1,106,284,706 |
2023/24 | 1,145,173,134 | 30,185,739 | 1,175,358,873 |
2024/25 | 1,287,368,291 | 47,037,798 | 1,334,406,089 |
Source: NHSR
Notes:
- The data includes the damages and NHS legal costs and claimant legal costs paid in each relevant financial year.
- Payments include those raised against both claims that were closed or open at the end of each financial year.