The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 1989

Pre-payment certificates

8.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, a Committee on payment of the relevant sum prescribed by paragraph (5) shall as soon as reasonably practicable grant a certificate (in these regulations referred to as a “pre-payment certificate”) to any person who duly completes and submits an application for it on a form provided for the purpose by the Committee.

(2) A pre-payment certificate shall be valid for a period of either four months or twelve months and an application for such a certificate shall indicate the period for which it is required to be valid.

(3) A pre-payment certificate which is granted confers on the person to whom it is granted exemption as provided by regulation 6 in respect of drugs and appliances supplied during the period for which it is valid.

(4) No pre-payment certificate shall be granted unless the application made for it is received less than one month before the date on which its period of validity is to begin.

(5) For the purposes of this regulation the prescribed sum shall be £14.50 for a pre-payment certificate valid for 4 months and £40.00 for a pre-payment certificate valid for 12 months.

(6) Where payment of a prescribed sum has been made under this regulation and, not more than one month after the date on which his certificate became valid, the person in respect of whom payment was made either becomes a person to whom any of the provisions of regulation 6(1)(b) to (f) applies, or dies, an application for repayment of that sum may be made, by or on behalf of that person or his estate, in accordance with paragraph (7).

(7) An application under paragraph (6) shall be made to the Committee which granted the certificate and shall be accompanied by the certificate (where granted) and a declaration in support of the claim, and the claim and any repayment shall be made in such manner and subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State may determine.