Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Acknowledged
High-value maternity brain injury claims drive significant clinical negligence costs.
Conclusion
NHS Resolution told us that clinical negligence is putting pressure on NHS budgets and is a significant cost to the public purse. The Department told us the reasons for the rising costs were complex. NHS Resolution explained that the increasing costs of compensation for claims of £1 million in damages or more is a major contributing factor. Those claims relate to the most seriously harmed individuals and are often associated with brain injury suffered in maternity care.7 In 2024–25, these very-high-value claims represented 2% of all claims by volume, but the associated damages accounted for 68% of total costs. The average compensation for obstetrics claims involving cerebral palsy or brain damage in 2024–25 was £11.2 million (for claims settled with damages).8
Government Response Summary
The government will write to the Committee by Autumn 2026 to set out the case for change regarding rising clinical negligence costs and its workplan, including key milestones and likely areas of focus for reform.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2026 The rising cost of clinical negligence and experience of patients navigating the system are of great concern to government and ministers are committed to addressing this issue and to improving the experience of NHS patients who have been injured by negligent NHS care. Between 2006-07 and 2024-25, total payments for clinical negligence increased five-fold from approximately £0.6 billion to £3.1 billion (nominal) and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances. The government does not accept that ever increasing 19 levels of compensation is in the wider public interest and agrees that this issue should be tackled. The government will write to the Committee by this Autumn to set out the case for change, and its workplan including to describe key milestones, and the likely areas of focus for reform. There is no one “quick fix” but instead a series of complex issues which together bring an upward cost pressure on clinical negligence budgets. The department is urgently examining how to best act swiftly to address some of the problems. As the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) described in the Committee hearing in November, David Lock KC has been providing expert advice on addressing the rising costs and how to improve patients’ experience of clinical negligence claims.