NHS charges tariff 2026: injury cost recovery amounts and calculator
Last updated · By Mustafa Bilgic · Amounts from the Personal Injuries (NHS Charges) (Amounts) Regulations 2015 as amended by S.I. 2026/962, the Scottish regulations and the Northern Ireland rules on legislation.gov.uk
This page has the full tariff for every injury date since the scheme began on 29 January 2007, the rules that turn a hospital stay into a charge, and what changes in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The calculator picks the right tariff row from the date of the injury and applies the maximum and any contributory negligence.
NHS charges tariff by date of injury
The date of the injury decides which row applies, not the date of treatment or settlement. The yearly uplift used to take effect on 1 April and has moved to 1 October, and each increase applies only to injuries on or after its start date.
| Injuries on or after | Ambulance, each journey | Outpatient, one charge | Inpatient, each day | Maximum for one injury |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 October 2026 | £272 | £901 | £1,107 | £66,173 |
| 1 October 2025 | £267 | £883 | £1,085 | £64,856 |
| 1 October 2024 | £256 | £848 | £1,042 | £62,272 |
| 1 April 2024 | £249 | £825 | £1,014 | £60,610 |
| 2 October 2023 | £243 | £806 | £991 | £59,248 |
| 1 April 2023 | £238 | £788 | £968 | £57,892 |
| 1 April 2022 | £231 | £766 | £941 | £56,260 |
| 1 April 2021 | £225 | £744 | £915 | £54,682 |
| 1 April 2020 | £224 | £743 | £913 | £54,566 |
| 1 April 2019 | £219 | £725 | £891 | £53,278 |
| 1 April 2018 | £208 | £688 | £846 | £50,561 |
| 1 April 2017 | £205 | £678 | £833 | £49,824 |
| 1 April 2016 | £201 | £665 | £817 | £48,849 |
| 1 April 2015 | £195 | £647 | £796 | £47,569 |
| 1 April 2014 | £192 | £637 | £783 | £46,831 |
| 1 April 2013 | £189 | £627 | £770 | £46,046 |
| 1 April 2012 | £185 | £615 | £755 | £45,153 |
| 1 April 2011 | £181 | £600 | £737 | £44,056 |
| 1 April 2010 | £177 | £585 | £719 | £42,999 |
| 1 April 2009 | £171 | £566 | £695 | £41,545 |
| 1 April 2008 | £165 | £547 | £672 | £40,179 |
| 29 January 2007 | £159 | £505 | £620 | £37,100 |
NHS charges calculator
Injury cost recovery, England and Wales tariff
How the charges are worked out
- Ambulance: one charge for each occasion the injured person is taken to hospital by an NHS ambulance, and taking a person from one hospital to another counts too. Charity funded air ambulances are not charged.
- Outpatient: one charge if the person is treated at hospital without being admitted, however many outpatient appointments follow.
- Inpatient: a daily charge for each day or part day of admission. When someone is admitted on one day and discharged on another, the day of discharge is ignored, and a person released on the day of admission is charged for one day. Inpatient treatment replaces the outpatient charge, so later outpatient visits add nothing.
- Maximum: the total for one injury cannot go above the maximum in the relevant row. If the ambulance and treatment charges together would exceed it, the treatment charge is reduced.
Who pays, and when
Section 150 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 makes the person who makes a compensation payment liable for the NHS charges. That covers insurers, businesses and individuals, and payments under the schemes for accidents caused by uninsured or untraced drivers. It does not matter whether liability was admitted. The Compensation Recovery Unit, part of the Department for Work and Pensions, issues a certificate of NHS charges, and the amount must be paid within 14 days of the settlement date, or within 14 days of the certificate if it is issued after settlement.
The charges are not taken out of the injured person's compensation. The Compensation Recovery Unit's technical guidance says the NHS charges cannot be offset against the compensation payment awarded, so they should not affect the negotiation of a claim. That is the difference from recoverable state benefits, which can reduce some parts of an award. Our guide to special damages explains how financial losses are claimed.
Contributory negligence
If a court reduces the damages because the injured person was partly to blame, or the parties agree a reduction that is recorded in a judgment or order, section 153(3) reduces the NHS charges by the same proportion. The Department of Health and Social Care gives the example of a 75/25 agreement, which is also applied to the charges. Our page on being partly at fault explains how that reduction works on the compensation itself.
What the scheme does not cover
- Disease: the Act says injury does not include any disease, so disease claims are outside the scheme, unless the disease is attributable to the injury. Psychological injuries are covered.
- GP and dental treatment: primary medical and dental services are not NHS treatment for this purpose, so only hospital treatment and ambulance journeys are charged.
- Exempt payments: Schedule 10 exempts, among others, compensation orders made by criminal courts, payments by the injured person's own insurer under a policy taken out before the injury, and payments under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
The Scottish Ministers set the amounts for treatment in Scottish hospitals in separate regulations. For injuries from 1 October 2025 and from 1 October 2026 they are the same as in England and Wales. For older injuries the Scottish start dates can differ: the Compensation Recovery Unit notes that the 2009 increase applied to Scottish cases from 12 June 2009. The calculator uses the England and Wales dates.
Northern Ireland runs its own health services charges scheme under the Recovery of Health Services Charges (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. For injuries from 1 October 2025 its amounts are the same, £267, £883, £1,085 and a £64,856 maximum. Treatment in Northern Ireland and in Great Britain after the same injury is charged under both schemes, and the two maximums are not shared.
Worked examples
The Compensation Recovery Unit's own example is an accident on 10 September 2009. The patient went by ambulance to hospital A as an outpatient, was transferred and admitted to hospital B for 7 days, then transferred again to hospital C for 10 days. Three ambulance journeys at £171 and 17 inpatient days at £695 give a certificate of £12,328, with the outpatient visit ignored. Had the stay at hospital C lasted 100 days, the charges would have reached £74,878 and been capped at £41,545.
The Department of Health and Social Care's guidance for 2025 to 2026 gives this example: one ambulance journey and 5 days at one hospital followed by 10 days at another, then outpatient treatment, is 1 x £267 plus 15 x £1,085, which is £16,542. The same stay after an injury on or after 1 October 2026 would be £272 plus 15 x £1,107, which is £16,877 (our calculation).
How much the scheme recovers
The Compensation Recovery Unit collected £193,637,088 in NHS charges from April 2025 to March 2026, according to the Department of Health and Social Care's transparency data. Of that, £164,104,541 went to hospitals in England and £15,664,697 to Scotland. The money goes back to the hospital or ambulance trust that gave the treatment.
Sources and methodology
The tariff table was parsed from S.I. 2026/962 and matched against both government guidance documents and the Scottish and Northern Ireland amending rules. The calculator applies regulation 2 of the 2015 regulations and section 153(3) of the 2003 Act, and reproduces the official worked examples above.
- Personal Injuries (NHS Charges) (Information Provision and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, on legislation.gov.uk.
- Personal Injuries (NHS Charges) (Amounts) Regulations 2015, regulation 2, on legislation.gov.uk.
- Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003, sections 150, 153 and 154 and Schedule 10, on legislation.gov.uk.
- Scotland: S.S.I. 2026/245. Northern Ireland: S.R. 2025/158.
- Guidance on the application of the NHS injury costs recovery scheme for 2025 to 2026 and the amounts collected, Department of Health and Social Care, on GOV.UK.
- Recovery of benefits, lump sum payments and NHS charges: technical guidance, Department for Work and Pensions, on GOV.UK.
Frequently asked questions
What are the NHS charges from 1 October 2026?
For injuries on or after 1 October 2026: £272 for each NHS ambulance journey, £901 for treatment without admission, or £1,107 for each day in hospital, up to a maximum of £66,173 for one injury.
Are NHS charges deducted from my compensation?
No. The compensator pays them on top of the award. The Compensation Recovery Unit's guidance says NHS charges cannot be offset against the compensation payment.
How are days in hospital counted for NHS charges?
Each day or part day of admission counts, but the day of discharge is ignored. Someone released on the day they were admitted is charged for one day.
Is there a maximum NHS charge for one injury?
Yes. It is £66,173 for injuries from 1 October 2026 and £64,856 for injuries from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026. If the charges would go above it, the treatment charge is reduced.
Do NHS charges apply to disease claims or GP treatment?
No. The Act says injury does not include any disease, unless the disease is attributable to the injury, and GP and dental services are not counted as NHS treatment for the scheme.
Who pays NHS charges after a road traffic accident?
The person who pays the compensation, usually the motor insurer. Payments under the schemes for uninsured or untraced drivers count as compensation payments too.