20 November 2025 - Costs of clinical negligence - Oral evidence

Government’s overall liability for clinical negligence payments reached £60bn in ’24-’25 – a quadrupling from ’06-’07 levels. Annual settlement costs have tripled to £3.6bn in ’24-’25, driven especially by claims in obstetrics. Legal costs in claims, which make up 15% of total settled claim costs, have also risen sharply. Claimant legal fees increased to a little over half a billion pounds in ’24-’25, up from £148m in ’06-’07.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has found that in many cases patients are compelled to consider legal proceedings for the answers and reassurances they seek, with the current system for complaints and concerns is confusing and lacking in responsiveness. Senior health officials are likely to be asked at the session what the government is doing to improve its initial responses to harm and overall patient safety, and what it can do to put the costs of clinical negligence on a more sustainable path.

The session is also likely to see questioning around the government’s 11 November announcement around redundancies in the NHS, in which the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) committed to abolishing around 18,000 administrative posts, saying that this will save more than £1bn to be redirected to frontline care.