Review the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme
- 4,033 Signatures
(Estimated Final Signatures: 4,102 - 2 added in the past 24hrs)
We call on the Government to review the current Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, as we believe it is not supporting those affected, is inefficient, out-dated, and is compounding harm.
Found: As of 25 September 2024, 15,804 claims have been received by the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's contract entitled Medical Assessments: Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, procurement reference, CF-0724900D0O000000rwimUAA, whether Crawford & Company are required to respond to Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme claims within a specified time period; and whether they receive rewards on account of the speed of assessments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The length of time it takes to process a Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) claim varies from case to case. This is because medical records will often be gathered from claimants’ healthcare providers before a claim undergoes medical assessment, and receiving a claimant’s records can take time.
95% of the assessments that are shared with an independent medical assessor should be returned to the VDPS administrators, the NHS Business Service Authority, within 15 working days. Sometimes this can take longer because medical assessments are complex, and these medical assessors will review individual medical records, which can be thousands of pages.
No rewards are provided within the contract.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications were made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme in 2024; and how many and what proportion of those applications were unsuccessful.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
9,554 applications were submitted to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme in 2024. 4,593 of these applications have now concluded, with 4,589, or 99.9% of, claims rejected.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme claims on Covid-19 vaccinations which have been accepted following mandatory reversal based upon (a) additional evidence provided and (b) existing evidence.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Claimants to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) can ask for a reassessment, known as a mandatory reversal, if they disagree with the decision on the eligibility of their claim. Additional evidence can be added before it is reassessed, and this can include medical records.
Between 1 November 2021, when the NHS Business Services Authority took over administration of the VDPS, and 20 March 2025, 25 claims have been awarded a Vaccine Damage Payment following a mandatory reversal. Additional evidence was provided for all of these claims.
Claims without additional evidence are received and reassessed through the mandatory reversal process. However, no claims without additional evidence have been awarded a Vaccine Damage Payment.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2024 to Question 10667 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, what discussions he has had with Vaccine Injured and Bereaved UK, and other representatives of those who have suffered harm from vaccinations; and if he will publish a summary of what was discussed at the meeting.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Ministers met with representatives from Vaccine Injured and Bereaved UK on 11 September 2024. The group highlighted the issues facing those who have suffered serious adverse effects following COVID-19 vaccination, and raised concerns around the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme. Ministers agreed to look at the issues raised.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of applications to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (a) are pending, (b) have been paid and (c) have been refused.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Between 1 November 2021 and 17 January 2025, the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme has received 19,115 claims. Of these, 7,159, or 37% of claims, are awaiting resolution, 208, or 1% of claims, have been awarded, and 11,748, or 61% of claims, have not been awarded a payment.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the information on the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) claim process, published by the NHS Business Services Authority, if he will publish the past tribunal decisions and case law used to assess applications to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) appeals are heard by the First-tier Social Security and Child Support Tribunal. The tribunal does not publish these decisions as they are non-binding and contain personal information.
First-tier tribunal decisions do not set a precedent for other cases. All claims to the VDPS are assessed on a case-by-case basis, using the latest available medical evidence. Medical assessors will consider: the claim form; medical records from the vaccinated person’s healthcare providers; clinical research; epidemiological evidence; and the current consensus of expert medical opinion.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2025 to Question 41384, what the (a) maximum and (b) minimum time was between a Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme application being made to the NHS Business Services Authority and being submitted to Crawford & Co for review.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The submission of applications to Crawford & Co is dependent on the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) receiving the relevant medical records from healthcare providers.
As of 3 April 2025, the maximum time between an application being made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme and that application being submitted to Crawford & Co for review was 1,339 days. The minimum time was 14 days, and the average time was 199 days.
The NHSBSA is working with healthcare providers to speed up the rate at which these medical records are shared.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of claims have been submitted to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme for (a) fatalities and (b) illnesses for Covid 19 vaccines.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 31 March 2025, 19,895 claims had been submitted to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to COVID-19 vaccination. 18,724, or 94% of these claims, were submitted for illnesses relating to COVID-19 vaccination and 1,171, or 6% of these claims, were submitted for fatalities relating to COVID-19 vaccination.
As of 31 March 2025, 958 claims had been submitted to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to vaccinations other than COVID-19 vaccination. 903, or 94% of these claims, were submitted for illnesses relating to vaccinations other than COVID-19 vaccinations and 55, or 6% of these claims, were submitted for fatalities relating to vaccinations other than COVID-19 vaccination.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
For 2024/2025, the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was allocated a budget of £40 million. This covers funding for payment awards, and administration costs associated with assessing the claims and managing the scheme.