Department Of Health
Detail of outcome
The consultation received over 117,000 responses, the majority of which were opposed to a rise in the upper age exemption.
Some of the reasons given for opposing the change included cost of living pressures and the risk to health of people not taking prescribed medication correctly.
This government is committed to tackling cost of living pressures and has decided that the prescription charge upper age exemption will remain at 60, meaning that it will not align to the State Pension age.
Original consultation
Consultation description
Please be aware this consultation was originally published on 1 July 2021 but the online response form was updated at 5:15pm on Thursday 8 July to include a question that was omitted in error.
There have been no changes to the consultation document. Any responses that had already been made will still be considered.
The question thats been added is Do you think that aligning the upper age exemption with state pension age could have a differential impact on particular groups of people or communities?.
If you responded to the consultation before this question was added but did not supply a contact email address, you can submit a response to this question, if you wish.
Individuals who did supply an email address have been contacted directly to invite them to respond. You do not have to respond to the whole consultation again.
The consultation has been extended to account for the changes and allow sufficient time for consideration and will now close on 2 September.
The government is consulting on aligning the upper age exemption for NHS prescription charges with the State Pension age (SPA). In 2019, around 600 million was generated in revenue from prescription charges for frontline NHS services. Currently, people receive free prescriptions when they turn 60 in England, whereas the SPA is now 66.
The consultation is seeking views from the public and healthcare professionals on options for change including building in a period of protection so those aged between 60 to 65 can continue to benefit from free prescriptions if the upper age exemption rises.
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