Our resources
This section sets out our revenue funding streams and planned expenditure against them. The relative size of the various schemes we operate are shown in the graphs and highlight the scale of the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) relative to our other activities.
NHS Resolution receives funding in two ways:
- Income from members of our indemnity schemes and from customers of training and other services offered.
- Grant-in-aid funding (cash financing) for services determined by the DHSC (Tables 2 to 4 show the various elements of our budgetary framework). The Revenue Resource Limit is the budget total for our revenue expenditure net of income.
As illustrated in Figure 2, our total expenditure budget for 2026/27 is currently £3,654.2 million, the majority of which (97.6%) is spent on resolving claims. Our total administration costs represent less than 2.4% of our overall expenditure.
Of the above £3,654.2 million, NHS members contribute £3,300.1 million in income as part of indemnity scheme membership, and total funding from DHSC is £355.0 million. Additionally, we plan to generate £1.0 million of income to cover the cost of delivering Advice services not stated as free to customers outside of England.
Our planned growth is concentrated within our Claims Evolution Programme, which involves insourcing work to deliver greater financial savings against NHS legal costs. We will see the stabilisation of staff numbers within our supporting functions, with the ongoing focus on continuous improvement and the application of new technology.
NHS Resolution has successfully implemented changes within the organisation that have resulted in tangible savings over the past few years, including starting the implementation of the Claims Evolution Programme. We maintain a drive for efficiencies and continuous improvement across all service and support areas through internal working groups and as part of the annual business planning cycle, providing quarterly updates to DHSC.
Figure 2: A breakdown of NHS Resolution’s total expenditure budget for 2026/27
Table 2: Budgeted annual expenditure 2026/27
| Indemnity scheme expenditure | £m |
|---|---|
| Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts | 3,187.7 |
| Liabilities to Third Parties Scheme | 42.9 |
| Property Expenses Scheme | 8.6 |
| Department of Health and Social Care clinical liabilities | 93.7 |
| Existing Liabilities Scheme | 30.9 |
| Department of Health and Social Care non-clinical liabilities | 6.9 |
| Ex-Regional Health Authority | 1.6 |
| Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice | 113.1 |
| Existing Liabilities Scheme for General Practice (Medical Protection Society and Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland) | 79.6 |
| Clinical Negligence Scheme for Coronavirus | 1.6 |
| Total indemnity scheme expenditure | 3,566.7 |
| Administration expenditure | £m |
|---|---|
| Member-funded schemes administration | 60.9 |
| Administration of General Practice Indemnity schemes | 19.7 |
| Administration of Coronavirus indemnity schemes | 0.5 |
| Grant-in-aid expenditure for Practitioner Performance Advice and Primary Care Appeals | 6.4 |
| Total indemnity scheme expenditure | 87.5 |
Table 3: Current annual budget 2025/26 – ring-fenced depreciation and impairments
| Ring-fenced depreciation and impairments | £m |
|---|---|
| – Depreciation | 3.0 |
| – Impairments | |
| Total ring-fenced depreciation and impairments | 3.0 |
Table 4: Capital expenditure
| Capital expenditure | £m |
|---|---|
| Capital expenditure 2025/26 | 1.0 |
| Total capital expenditure | 1.0 |
