HES data request charges

The NHS Information Centre (NHS IC) continues to monitor and review its policies and operating procedures to ensure they remain aligned with UK copyright, UK data licensing arrangements and emerging Government / Department of Health policy.

We have also responded to increasing public interest regarding access to, and use of, public data. Consequently, we have undertaken a review of our internal procedures for the management and release of HES patient data and have updated our contractual and re-use licensing framework to reflect the findings.

Taking account of the above points, our HES operational costs and a review of our HES 2010-11 operational performance, we have updated our HES data request approval processes, charges and licence fee arrangements for 2010-11. Our 2011-12 HES data request charges and Licence fee arrangements become effective for all requests received on or after 6 April 2011. Please note that any requests which exceed 10 hours in the case of tailored summary tables or 12 hours in the case of episode records will be charged at the 'Major' rate plus �75 per hour for every additional hour above these thresholds.

From 6 April 2025 the following standard cost and fees tariff apply for the financial year 2011-12:

Re-Use licence fees become applicable where the intended use by a customer is judged not to contribute to improving the health and social care system in England or not to be in the public interest. Licence fees are calculated as a percentage of the annual operating cost of producing the HES datasets which for 2010-11 is �1.6 million pounds. However as a consequence of rapidly developing Government policy ('Making Public Data Public') the NHS IC has suspended the application of Re-Use Licence fees with immediate effect. Please note that the NHS IC reserves the right to re-introduce Re-Use fee mechanism or to apply these charges in specific cases.