FOI-03636

Thank you for your request for information. ##Request “I would like information that shows how much money this organisation makes each year from these Penalty Charge Notices, in particular due to incorrect details on the form. And how many of these Notices that equates to. I should be given this according to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is not individuals' personal data.” On the 24 April 2026 you clarified the following: “I'm referring to DECS and request information for the total amount made from these each year and also specifically for when a person has entered incorrect information about what benefits they are on and were therefore not eligible for the discount and had to pay a fine instead. I would like the information for each year for the last 5 years, that should suffice. Additionally, could I also have details of the number of challenges made to the fines each year where the challenge was unsuccessful and the number of complaints made each year?” ##Response Question 1 - I'm referring to DECS and request information for the total amount made from these each year and also specifically for when a person has entered incorrect information about what benefits they are on and were therefore not eligible for the discount and had to pay a fine instead. A copy of the information is attached showing how much money the NHSBSA has recovered for the last four financial years, and also the current year to date. Any monies recovered from penalty charges are returned in full to NHS England. Please note that we are unable to distinguish between cases where an individual has entered incorrect information about the benefits they receive. The data covers the total amount recovered and is not broken down by reason for receiving a DECS penalty charge. When we receive a dental treatment form that has been signed to confirm the patient is exempt from charges, we carry out a data matching exercise. This exercise searches for proof of a valid exemption. If no valid exemption is found through this exercise, an enquiry letter is issued to the patient which invites them to contact us to confirm the exemption. Question 2 - Additionally, could I also have details of the number of challenges made to the fines each year where the challenge was unsuccessful and the number of complaints made each year? I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA. While customers may contact us to query or challenge a Penalty Charge Notice, this information is not recorded in a way that allows us to identify and extract total instances where a challenge was made and subsequently unsuccessful. As this information is not recorded in a reportable format, we are unable to provide the requested figures. We can confirm that we received 9,326 DECS complaints between May 2021 and May 2026. This is the total number of complaints received and relates to all DECS topics, not only challenges to PCNs.