Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘I am filing the following FOI:

1. How much money in Penalty Charge Notices have the NHSBSA made from 1 January 2020 to 8 September 2025?

2. Of that figure, how much money was received from people who were on Universal Credit, but did not have the required take-home pay to be entitled for reduced/free dental healthcare?

3. How many complaints have the NHSBSA received about dental practices misadvising people on whether they were eligible for reduced/free dental care, from 1 January 2020 to 8 September 2025?’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 6 September 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Our response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

All data relates to the Dental Exemption Checking Service (DECS).

Money received includes the Dental Charge and Additional Penalty Charges applied.

The money below was recovered within the time period 1st January 2020 to 8th September 2025.

Please note, for question 2, we have checked dental forms where the Universal Credit benefit has been claimed, we are unable to determine individual circumstances or if someone who has paid their PCN is on Universal Credit.

Not everyone getting Universal Credit is entitled to help with their health costs. You are only entitled if the total take-home pay for your household in your last assessment period was:

£435 or less

£935 or less if your Universal Credit includes a payment for a child, or you have limited capability for work or limited capability for work and work-related activity

Question 1 - How much money in Penalty Charge Notices have the NHSBSA made from 1 January 2020 to 8 September 2025?

£53,038,923.28

Question 2 - Of that figure, how much money was received from people who were on Universal Credit, but did not have the required take-home pay to be entitled for reduced/free dental healthcare?

£12,572,539.98

Question 3 - How many complaints have the NHSBSA received about dental practices misadvising people on whether they were eligible for reduced/free dental care, from 1 January 2020 to 8 September 2025?

208

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.