NHS prescription penalty charge

[Knickerbockerglories]

I am hoping someone has some experience of this and can advise me…

my husband and I both take long term medication and have previously bought the yearly pre payment prescription card.

I switched to a monthly direct debit and thought I/we had switched his too, clearly we didn’t and he has been ticking the prepayment option for about a year without realising.

last month he got a penalty charge notice after an ‘automated check’ I phoned and explained and offered to back pay the years card, and they basically said tough he would get the fine. Fair enough, our mistake. I went online that day and set up his direct debit for the monthly option which auto renews each year- we won’t be caught out again!

problem is he’s just had another charge notice for the month after the last one… so probably another penalty fine… will these continue for the full year or so he missed so be about £1,000 in total?

if they look at the system they can see it was an error after paying the annual charge regularly for years before…. Do I ring them again or will that just highlight the other times (which he’s more than covered in the first fine).

I know he’s technically in the wrong but it was a genuine mistake and he’s paid the fine and set up the DD option to make sure it doesn’t happen again…

any advice? Has anyone had anything similar?

Hi, hve you got a number you called please? The number I can on the letter never connects the phone all

I pay for an annual prepayment certificate by monthly direct debit over 10 months.
I receive an email the month before it is due for renewal but that says that if I wish to renew I don't need to do anything.
I don't receive a physical card in the post, just one by email but I give these details to my pharmacist and they log them on their computer system.
I used to buy a 3 month certificate and did receive a fine at one point. This was cancelled when I was able to prove I held a prepayment certificate on the date I collected my prescription.
It's worth keeping all the relevant cards/emails for a while after they expire as they can make mistakes!

I think it's unfortunate but fair that he gets fined and has to pay for the prescriptions he not paid for. Its not obvious there's been a mistake. The only thing obvious is that his annual prepayment was cancelled. Even if it was a mistake it's yours.

I do think it's unfair though to fine you again, unless of course you continue to fraudently claim.

It is unfortunate but it would be similar consequences if eg you forgot to tax/insure your car. If you board a train without a valid ticket you could be fined and would also need to buy a ticket for that journey....either no off peek/super saver discounts. A years a long time not to notice. Best check everything is in order before you get hit with another shock.

If you're on a low income, I'm sure they'll accept a payment plan

Ring and tell them. I had a fine once...I was pregnant and had moved address and hadn't updated address as we were mid move and they told me off like a naughty child but cancelled the fine as I had a valid mat1 form. Felt the whole thing was silly how they spoke to me but let it go as the fine was waved

I think you should pay for all the prescriptions you've had at their individual prices. I think there should be 1 fine on top of that but no more once you've 'made good' your mistake.
How much is the fine?

You don't get a message ime. I didn't.
It's trickier now as it isn't a physical card anymore either - and no easy way to check.

Mine had run out and I didn't know. I bought a new one as soon as I found out. I suspect I've ticked the box at least 2 or 3 times without realising it had potentially elapsed. The date on my phone calendar suggests I had got one as I've added it to the calendar (running out in July/August) but I can't find any record of it online or in my emails. Just a date it runs out. I can only assume something went wrong with payment perhaps, So I have paid for a new one as soon as I realised and this time taken screenshots of the new information, as well as adding to calendar, I now have to hope there are no fines to come for the time I may not have had a valid card - it was a genuine error.

There is NO card.
The card was stopped a few years back.
It was much easier when the card existed. It had an expiry date in.

Also when you go to a regular pharmacy - they never ask to see any evidence of it.

It's £1200, not £12,000 for 120 prescriptions!

@Knickerbockerglories I am sorry this has happened, and 'admin errors' could happen to anyone. I hope you get this sorted, but I fear you may have to pay for all the individual prescriptions. The powers-that-be are very strict and don't bend an inch with shit like this. I am so sorry.

I have never received a letter after laying, paper based or email.
I don't usually get an email re expiry either,
My regular pharmacy never asks for evidence of the prepayment.

I only discovered mine must have elapsed and the new card payment not go through when I took my prescription to a new pharmacist out of area. I couldn't find any evidence of it in my phone so, for my own ease, I just paid for a new one there and then.

Your DH’s unwitting fraud is still fraud of the NHS. Either pay for each item when you pick up your medicine or show your prepayment card, but don’t plead innocence and expect leniency when you’ve had 12 of free prescriptions that he is not entitled to.

I pay annually, not Dd.

nearly happened to my son years ago...turned out the dentist filled the form in wrong so it was rescinded --- i seemed to remember I got involved
I have my uses, apparently I am also great at making complaints on my families behalf (I get volunteered a lot)

You can check your status here

I don't know about your specific situation @Knickerbockerglories , but I got speeding twice in one week when I got a new car and I was allowed to do a speed awareness course for the first offence, but had to take the fine for the second, even though the course was a few months after both offences.

Thanks for the replies, to answer some of the questions...

His prescription is for antidepressants & anti psychotics... he does have issues with bills/money/dealing with letters etc which is why I switched us (both I thought!) to the DD as it auto-renews instead of having to apply for the next 12 months.

The reason I think it may be obvious that it isn't intentional fraud is that we both have paid for the 12 month cards for years until this happened. He has never been asked to show any proof just asked if he has a prep payment or pays.

I have paid one fine and the prescription charge (which comes to just over £100 so would cover the missed prescription fees for the poster worried about me causing the underfunding of the NHS single-handedly!)

My concern is not paying back the missed prescription fees (I offered to back pay the 12 month card or separate prescription fees on the phone when we had the first fine) my worry is that we will get 12 fines of £100ish one after the other so end up paying £1,200 is for the year instead of £120 or whatever the card is.

The onus is on the patient to check that their personal details are correct when signing the patient declaration on the back of the script. Pharmacies and dental practices can get into a mess if they try to assist the patient and they should only advise the patient that if they are in doubt of any exemption, pay the relevant charge and claim back later.

NHSBSA ordinarily do send reminders when exemption certificates are due to expire. It is sensible when purchasing one to set reminders in diaries of when the certificate expires. There is also less of a issue when paying up front for a certificate. If for any reason a DD does not go through you would not have a certificate, so DDs should be checked every month. I dare say that a reminder should be sent that a DD has failed.

Unfortunately by claiming an exemption for so long, there is going to be the risk of further fines. Sadly, there are a number of patients who continually defraud the NHS and claim free prescriptions and dental care on a regular basis. The fines need to be set at a level that deters.

The NHS are very hot on this, I used to work for an opticians, a few times a year this would happen when a customer, who had previously been entitled at their last sight test, the assistant would always ask if they were still entitled etc. the onus was on the customer signing the form. The fine always stood. Rare for it to be overturned.

That link has worried me. I pay by direct debit for a pre-payment certificate but it says they have no record of me when I put my details in. Just been back through the bank statement and I am definitely paying. Annoyingly can’t locate a recent email about it.

You need to contact them @Itshandled . I've just checked mine again and it says I have an exemption due to pre-payment.

Could it have your name slightly wrong?

It's a complicated system and actually I think it was much better when you got a physical card with an expiry date on and had to show that!

I've had a prepayment card for years, but recently didn't renew as I'm only on one medication now so it is cheaper to pay for each prescription as it comes. Last time I picked it up I had to insist that I needed to pay as the pharmacist still had on their records that I had an exemption/ prepayment - I can see how people get mixed up/ forget!

I have a prepayment certificate and every time I collect my prescription I have the email open to show the pharmacy. They note down the certificate number and expiry date.

I did make a mistake once and realised that I had the start date incorrect between the old and new one which meant I had one prescription incorrectly despite showing the email to the pharmacy. I emailed straight away and asked if I could amend the date to cover the intended start date rather than pay a fine and they did but maybe that was because I contacted them before any checks/fines had been issued.

Yeah, must be something like that. I tried my maiden name and no luck. I have found the certificate now so at least I know I’ve definitely got one. Phew!

I was fined once because I was confused about ESA. There are two different benefits, both called ESA, one of which is eligible for free prescriptions, the other is not - how confusing is that?!

I immediately phoned and told them they had made a mistake and was informed that I was the one who had got it wrong. They don't have any option to waive fines if you've made a genuine error, unfortunately. Fine was £50 I think, which I paid straight away, then set up a prepayment certificate.

I told them I was worried about other prescriptions I had also wrongly ticked in the past and was told that the scrutiny is random, so although it was possible I might get fined again, it was unlikely.

Sounds like you were unlucky OP to get fined twice. I was told they do a sweep every month, so you're not likely to be fined for anything prior to the ones you've already been given.

It's really easy to check. The email from paying for the PPC gives the certificate number and validity period.

I just pull it up on my phone and show them at the counter, they note down the number, job done.

my worry is that we will get 12 fines of £100ish one after the other so end up paying £1,200 is for the year instead of £120 or whatever the card is

I can't give you a definitive answer, but AFAIK a spot check would have just shown up your non-entitlement on that particular prescription

I don't know if they then double check all the others, but when this happened to my DS (support staff didn't know the prepayment certificate had expired) he only ever got one fine

Oh, come on, this is basic stuff. To establish fraud you need to prove intent to defraud. Therefore there is no such thing as non-deliberate fraud.

I'm wondering whether the best course is to write to them saying you realise this error must apply to all prescriptions for the last 12 months, you had absolutely no intention to defraud the NHS and will pay for the lot, here's our cheque (or, give us your bank account details so we can pay direct). No idea whether the system can accommodate that, but it would tend to show you had no intention to deprive the NHS of the money which ought to stop the fines.