National Health Service Act 2006

177 Exemptions from dental charging

(1) No charge may be made under regulations under section 176(1) in respect of a relevant dental service provided for any person who at the prescribed time—

(a) was under 18,

(b) was under 19 and receiving qualifying full-time education,

(c) was pregnant, or

(d) had given birth to a child within the previous 12 months.

(2) No charge may be made under regulations under section 176(1) in respect of—

(a) the repair or replacement of any appliance,

(b) any appliance supplied to a patient who is resident in a hospital,

(c) the arrest of bleeding.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2)(a) do not apply in relation to—

(a) the repair or replacement of any appliance of a prescribed description,

(b) the repair or replacement of any appliance where it is determined in the prescribed manner—

(i) in any case, that the repair or replacement was necessitated by an act or omission of the person supplied, or

(ii) in a case where the person supplied was under the age of 16, that the repair or replacement was necessitated by an act or omission, occurring while that person was under that age, of a person having charge of him.

(4) Subsection (2)(b) does not apply where an appliance is supplied—

(a) under section 99(2),

(b) under a general dental services contract, or

(c) in accordance with section 107 arrangements.

(5) Regulations may provide, with respect to any exemption under this section, that it must be a condition of the exemption that—

(a) a declaration of the prescribed kind is made in the prescribed form and manner,

(b) a certificate or other evidence of the prescribed kind is supplied in the prescribed form and manner.

(6) In subsection (1)(b) “qualifying full-time education” means full-time instruction at a recognised educational establishment or by other means accepted as comparable by the Secretary of State.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6)—

(a) “recognised educational establishment” means an establishment recognised by the Secretary of State as being, or as comparable to, a school, college or university, and

(b) regulations may prescribe the circumstances in which a person must, or must not, be treated as receiving full-time instruction.

(8) In subsection (1)(d), “child” includes a still-born child (within the meaning of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 (c. 20).