The PAC in its 2025 scrutiny the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) annual report and accounts 2023-24 called on government to reduce tragic incidences of patient harm. The PAC found it unacceptable that DHSC had yet to develop a plan to deal with the cost of clinical negligence claims, with so much taxpayers’ money being spent on legal fees. Its report found that £58.2bn had been set aside to cover the potential cost of clinical negligence events in the 2023-24 accounts – the second largest liability across government after nuclear decommissioning. 19% of money awarded to claimants in 2023-24 went to their lawyers (£536m of the total £2.8bn paid out that year), on top of the fees payable for the Government Legal Team.
The PAC last scrutinised the topic of clinical negligence in 2017, saying at the time that bold action was required to address the impact of claims on resources available for frontline care and patients. Its report urged government at the time to end its complacency over the cost of clinical negligence, with the annual amount paid out having quadrupled over the preceding decade from £0.4 billion in 2006–07 to £1.6 billion in 2016–17.
The National Audit Office reports on clinical negligence costs in 2025, with an investigation setting out the scale and drivers of changes to the value of long-term liabilities for clinical negligence claims and associated in-year payments, and likely future projections. Following the NAO’s report, the PAC will take evidence from senior DHSC and NHS officials . Likely topics will include what is being done to reduce patient harm and improve patient safety across the NHS, and the effective management of costs, including the reduction of legal fees.
If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Thursday 6 November 2025.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is the Committee which decides what information to publish and how. It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this.
Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues.