NHS Resolution’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25, published today, highlights a record 83% of clinical claims being resolved without the need for legal proceedings.
In line with NHS Resolution’s strategy to keep patients and healthcare staff out of court, this means that 11,110 clinical compensation claims were resolved through dispute resolution processes rather than formal legal proceedings – the highest percentage ever achieved.
By working collaboratively to resolve claims for compensation against the NHS we are keeping patients, their families and healthcare staff out of court whilst sharing what we learn back with the NHS to prevent the same things happening again.
This means that over 11,000 people saw their claims resolved with mediation, negotiation and other non-adversarial processes without the need for court involvement
Helen Vernon, Chief Executive of NHS Resolution
The report also describes how innovations such as NHS Resolution’s ‘Early Notification’ scheme for birth injury have enabled families to access compensation for immediate needs more rapidly. It also explains how NHS Resolution has worked with families and their representatives to ensure their involvement throughout the compensation process.
We unequivocally support and promote candour and that clinical staff should be open and transparent. Where there is a claim for compensation, this needs to be investigated in line with the law but we always aim to resolve cases as quickly as possible to avoid distress to the family with four in five cases resolving early on without the need to involve the courts.
Helen Vernon, Chief Executive of NHS Resolution
NHS Resolution received 14,428 new clinical negligence claims and reported incidents in 2024/25, reflecting ongoing broad stability in overall claims volume across recent years.
£3.1 billion was paid out in 2024/25 for compensation and associated costs on all of NHS Resolution’s clinical schemes, compared to £2.8 billion in 2023/24. £1.3 billion of the total clinical negligence payments in 2024/25 related to maternity.
The estimated ‘annual cost of harm’ for incidents in 2024/25 for the main clinical scheme, Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST), was £4.6 billion, down from £4.8 billion in 2023/24. This reduction reflects updates to discount rates and improvements in long-term inflation assumptions.
Demand for NHS Resolution’s expert Practitioner Performance Advice service continued to grow significantly, with 1,420 new and reopened requests for advice – a 24% increase on 2023/24. Requests for NHS Resolution’s Primary Care Appeals service to deliver fair and prompt resolution of appeals and disputes increased significantly, with a 31% rise in the number of cases received.
NHS Resolution’s provision for future liabilities as of 31 March 2025 was £60.3 billion, compared to £58.5 billion in 2023/24. The increase reflects another year of activity and natural growth, partially offset by changes to the Personal Injury Discount Rate (from -0.25% to +0.50%) and updates to HM Treasury discount rates.
NHS Resolution’s Annual report and accounts 2024/25 is now available.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. Negligence claims form a very small proportion of both the number of incidents and complaints reported in the NHS, and the many millions of individual episodes of care that are delivered by the NHS each year. There are many factors influencing the reasons why individuals bring a claim against the NHS, including factors in the legal market. There is also a significant time lag between an incident occurring and a claim being received – on average three years. It may also take several years to settle a claim, particularly those high-value claims where brain damage has occurred at birth,
2. The ‘provision’ is the best estimate of the expenditure required to settle the present obligation at the balance sheet date or transfer to a third party (for claims made and predicated to be made, called ‘incurred but not reported claims’). The figure is updated annually and is an informed estimate that depends on assumptions about future developments and therefore lies within a range of possible results.
3. All schemes are run on a pay-as-you-go basis and so we only collect from members, or receive funding from the Department of Health and Social Care for what we calculate we will be paying out on claims on a year-on-year basis. We do not ‘collect’ nor ‘set-aside’ billions of pounds in anticipation of the future outgoings of our schemes.
4. The cost of harm is the value of the claims that have been reported, along with an actuarial estimate of claims NHS Resolution expects to receive in the future arising from incidents in that financial year. The annual cost of harm is not the same as the amount actually paid out in compensation.
5. The total paid out in 2024/25 for compensation and associated costs on all of NHS Resolution’s indemnity schemes for clinical and non-clinical negligence claims was £3.13 billion.
