Help with NHS Prescriptions Penalty Notice

Cnorm

Hi,

I have used the site a lot and browsed/searched the forum a bit over the years but have not signed up. So hello!

Anyway, I did search the forum about this problem and Universal Credit to see what had been said and only found one thread that had quite a lot of hyperbole and flaming. So I thought I would start a new one and explain myself to hopefully avoid such happening again.

In August last year I was rather suddenly made unemployed, I've not claimed benefits since a three month period around 2003 so I'm really new to the whole thing. I immediately went to make a claim and quickly found that Universal Credit was now mandatory for new claimants in my area. So I did that, I'm pretty good at reading stuff before I sign anything or agree to stuff but my health has always been fine and I didn't pay specific attention to anything that might have mentioned prescriptions.

Anyway I got a temporary but full-time job starting in October last year and lasting until early January. As the company continually got my details wrong I didn't get my first pay until December but at least UC kept paying me and with savings I was able to keep things ticking over. This meant that when I got my last pay in January (just £178) I had never been removed from the UC system as I had effectively only been paid for f-t work for one month.

I was quite oblivious to any rules/laws about prescriptions and didn't think I needed to be informed. Then I went to my GP about something at the end of Jan this year and was given a fit note saying I didn't have to search for work and a prescription. Of course the first thing I did with the scrip was take it to the pharmacy next to the surgery. They said 'do you pay' and I said 'well, I'm claiming UC and I've just been signed off sick so I guess not'. The two people behind the desk looked at each other and decided that as there was no box on the scrip for UC I should tick box H. I really didn't think to question them. I don't think many people would have.

Unfortunately this has continued, I regularly see my GP about my health problem, get given a scrip and a fit note and as there were no repercussions from ticking box H in January I didn't think to check up on it.

Yesterday I get a penalty charge notice for a scrip in June. So of course I have a look online and a bit of a Google later I find advice saying I should have paid for the scrip and claimed it back later. And that 'taking advice from pharmacy staff is not an acceptable reason to challenge the claim'. Darn. The reason for the charge is that I claimed to get income support or income-related employment and support allowance but obviously I don't. I get UC.

I put in a challenge anyway, I simply stated that I was in receipt of UC at this time and had no other income. I thought I was ticking the correct box.

I am awaiting their reply but obviously worried that the, and we are talking about quite a lot here, other scrips I have ticked box H for are going to also get flagged.

Having done further research and in case anyone else is facing the same problem I can now say that official advice, for people in exactly my circumstance, is not to pay for the scrip and claim back later (which was the first advice I found via Google) but to take a print out (I guess a smart phone showing the information would do but I'm not sure) of your last payment period of your UC claim with you and if the scrip does not have a box for UC then you should tick box K (which is for income based jobseekers allowance).

So at the end of it all I am entitled to free scrips. I have been ticking the wrong box for 9 months. One of the scrips I have done this for has been flagged as a false/fraudulent claim and there are plenty of other ones that could also be. Including one I got yesterday morning before I got the letter.

What do you think the chances are I can successfully challenge this and any other notices?

calcotti

Are you able to access your UC journal and print out your UC entitlement for each of the relevant UC assessment periods to show that any earnings you had were below the qualifying threshold https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/help-with-health-costs/help-with-health-costs-for-people-getting-universal-credit/. If you can that would prove entitlement.

This is now a major issue with NHS being much stricter on issuing penalties at the same time as UC making it even harder to establish entitlement and a shocking failure on the part of the authorities to amend the prescription form to include reference to UC.

There is a school of thought that UC claimants would be better applying for a prescription certificate through the NHS low income scheme https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/help-with-health-costs/nhs-low-income-scheme-lis/ rather than relying on proving entitlement based on UC. For those working their earnings in an assessment period may fluctuate (particularly if they are paid other than monthly) which means that they can qualify for free prescriptions in one month but not the next and then qualify again the following path. The scope for falling fouls of the rules is huge and the fine is punitive, especially for those on a low income.

If you live in Scotland or Wales you don’t have to deal with any of this because prescriptions are free anyway!

Cnorm

Thanks. Yes I can print out my UC entitlement for the whole period that I have been handing in these scrips and ticking the wrong box. And I can confirm that I meet the requirements for the whole period. Including in January when I was last paid from employment but this was so little I still qualified for free scrips.

Basically it boils down to the fact I was ticking the wrong box.

calcotti

Cnorm wrote: »

Thanks. Yes I can print out my UC entitlement for the whole period that I have been handing in these scrips and ticking the wrong box. And I can confirm that I meet the requirements for the whole period. Including in January when I was last paid from employment but this was so little I still qualified for free scrips.

Basically it boils down to the fact I was ticking the wrong box.

I think you should be OK then, regardless of which box was ticked you were entitled https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/challenge-penalty-charge-notice. Because an offence is committted every time a prescription is incorrectly claimed for free you could get multiple notices if you have had multiple prescriptions. It may be worth sending your complete UC record in one go in the hope this will stop them sending you further notices.

Cnorm

Thanks again, I'll see what response I get from the online form I filled out and see if I can get them to accept that as an option.

Cnorm

I've already had a response to my challenge asking for more details, but not for proof of my UC claim. I responded and said there were other scrips where I had ticked box H but that I could provide proof of my UC claim that would show I was entitled to free scrips but I was ticking the wrong box.

Hopefully we can sort this out. It does seem so.

pmduk

The best thing about claiming under the low-income scheme is that if successful, you receive form HC2, which is valid for a specified period, often 12 months, avoiding you having to jump through hoops each time you receive your script.

PersianCatLady

The PPC is a bit like council tax in that you pay for ten months but you are covered for 12 months -
https://apps.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/ppcwebsales/patient.do

Cnorm

Thanks for the info. My last fit note runs out on the 28th of this month. My GP might give me another but I feel able to go back to work and have applied for seven permanent f-t jobs in the last 2 days so I hope I won't be claiming anything soon and have to pay for future scrips!

Ames

Cnorm wrote: »

Thanks for the info. My last fit note runs out on the 28th of this month. My GP might give me another but I feel able to go back to work and have applied for seven permanent f-t jobs in the last 2 days so I hope I won't be claiming anything soon and have to pay for future scrips!

Good luck with the job hunting! If you get regular scrips you should look into the prepayment certificate, it would probably work out cheaper.

Cnorm

PersianCatLady wrote: »

The PPC is a bit like council tax in that you pay for ten months but you are covered for 12 months -

I just clicked the link and I had no idea you could do that! Thanks.