Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 25
64th Report - Costs of clinical negligence
Published 30 Jan 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Costs of clinical negligence All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The government may effectively be paying twice in some instances of clinical negligence, once through the compensation given to claimants and once again through providing NHS treatment and publicly funded social care. Section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948 provides that defendants who pay for the future healthcare and treatment of damaged patients must do so on the presumption that such care will be provided by the private sector and not the NHS. Local authorities are also not able to consider clinical negligence compensation awards when assessing eligibility for state social care.64 NHS Resolution identified the assumption of private care as a major contributory factor to the increasing costs of very high-value cases (£1 million or more).65 It estimates that about 60% of very high-value settlements for damage related to the cost of providing future care.66
From: Public Accounts Committee, 64th Report - Costs of clinical negligence (HC 1234), 30 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 April 2026 (deadline 30 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with the Committee's recommendation to set out an operational plan on clinical negligence, disagrees with others, and has some recommendations "under consideration".
- It agrees to write to the Committee "by this Autumn" with its workplan, key milestones and likely areas of focus for reform, but "disagrees" with publishing David Lock KC's review, saying it has "no current plans" to publish a separate report.
- It "disagrees" with estimating and tracking the costs of treating avoidable harm, stating it "would not be financially or logistically feasible", and "disagrees" with a new national data-sharing system, saying "there is already data sharing arrangements in place".
- On maternity, it agrees with the recommendation to learn lessons. Baroness Amos has confirmed the independent investigation will publish its final report in June 2026, and a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will develop a national action plan.
- Alternative dispute mechanisms and fixed recoverable costs are "under consideration", and the government is "unable to commit" to the six-month timeframe for double recovery estimates. It will write to the Committee by Autumn 2026 on each.