COVID-19 Vaccine Compensation Costs Surge in UK

The cost of compensating people in the UK who were harmed by COVID-19 vaccines has risen sharply, with the country’s National Health Service (NHS) acknowledging that claims under the so-called ‘Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme’ (VDPS) have exceeded expectations. Nearly £50 million ($67.4 million) of public money has so far been paid to US-based claims management firm Crawford & Company to assess applications – this is around eight times the £6 million ($8 million) originally forecast. By contrast, only about £29 million ($39.1 million) has been paid out to 246 successful claimants, each receiving a one-off £120,000 ($161,851) award.

As of December 2025, 22,819 people had contacted the VDPS, with most reporting harm linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Roughly 97 per cent of successful claims relate to this vaccine. However, more than 16,900 claims have been rejected, either because medical assessors profess to have found no clear evidence that COVID-19 vaccines caused the condition or because applicants were judged not to have met the scheme’s threshold of at least 60 percent disability.

Campaign groups argue the process lacks transparency and say UK taxpayers’ money is being spent not only on assessments but also on defending legal challenges from rejected claimants. Bereaved families and advocacy organizations complain that payments are too limited and extremely difficult to obtain. Campaigners are therefore calling for urgent reform, faster reassessments, and a more compassionate system for those who have been harmed.

To read about research confirming that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are associated with more serious harms than authorities have admitted, see this article on our website.