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Data Access Request Service (DARS) charges from 2020/2021

Find out about estimated DARS service charges listed by service component.

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Please note - all pricing is under review.

How our charges are calculated

NHS Digital is publicly funded and we operate on a cost-recovery basis. We do not charge for data but we do apply charges to cover the cost of processing and delivering our service. We ensure charges are applied fairly and consistently, broadly determined by the amount of effort and approvals required. 

Charges are calculated on the following components:

  • the type of application
  • the volume of data requested including any data linkage
  • the frequency that you require data to be disseminated

Should the volume and complexity of requests require additional development work, these may be subject to additional charges.

Actual costs will be agreed with the customer during the application process.

We also offer data services to support clinical trials and research. Find out about NHS DigiTrials and the NHS England Secure Data Environment.

Table of charges

Service components Unit cost
Application type New application £1,030
Amendment / renewal / extension £820
Annual review fee1 £500
Data volumes Per period (for example monthly, quarterly or annual) / per dataset2 £320
Dissemination Per dissemination3 £930
Service required

Bespoke data linkage per dataset per dissemination4

£2,060
Initial tracing pack £420
Data Access Environment (DAE) (per user per year) £3,200
Tabulations: per table £800
Permission to sub-licence (per annum) £10,000

These charges are subject to VAT (at the current rate), if applicable.

1 Applies only to agreements covering more than one year, and is charged per every complete year beyond the first year. For example 13 months = one review, 25 months = two reviews.

2 In addition to standard datasets, such as HES Outpatient and DIDS, this term covers:

  • reports, for example ONS Mortality/Civil Registration or PROMs - these are provided as individual discrete reports (not necessarily defined by data years), and are charged per report
  • bridging files, such as HES to ONS Mortality - not defined by data years, these are charged per number of actual bridge files required and their frequency
  • work packages, such as Mental Health Data

The Standard Extract Service has been replaced with the provision of regular bespoke extracts, which helps to minimise the data required. It is now costed as a number of individual extracts.

3 Applies for each delivery of data (each of which may include multiple datasets). This charge does not apply to medical research reports.

4 Includes linking multiple customer datasets, linking customer (or NHS Digital developed cohorts) to NHS Digital data. The linkage fee is charged each time customer data is linked and each time an extract is produced - for example, linking customer data to 3 HES datasets as well as SUS PbR will result in a linkage fee for linkage to HES as well as a linkage fee for linkage to SUS PbR (based on one dissemination of the linked datasets). If more than one dissemination is required, the linkage fees are chargeable each time for each dissemination.

Cost examples

We have provided some different examples of data requests and the associated costs. 

Scenario 1 - New application for a 3 year Data Sharing Agreement (DSA), from a non-commercial organisation. No plans to retain the data beyond the end of the DSA (specific data sets)

Application type: New application for a 3 year Data Sharing Agreement (DSA), from a non-commercial organisation. No plans to retain the data beyond the end of the DSA.

Dissemination: One-off extract of data to be supplied. 

Datasets: Data requested from period 2000/2001 to 2020/2021* (21 Associated Product Years). Products requested for this period:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care (APC)

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Out Patient (OP)

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Accident and Emergency (A&E) / Emergency Care Dataset (ECDS)

Civil Registrations (Death) Secondary Care Cut (one off)

Service:  Customer to supply a single cohort who are known to have had a stay in hospital in England. NHS Digital to perform initial cohort trace. Cohort to be linked to HES data and Civil Registrations (death) Secondary Care Cut.

Costs

Item cost (£) Amount Total
Application type New 1,030 1 1,030
Annual review (3 year DSA) 500 2 1,000
Dissemination One extract 930 1 930
Service Initial tracing pack 420 1 420
Bespoke Data Linkage HES 2,060 1 2,060
Bespoke Data Linkage Civil Registration Deaths SCC 2,060 1 2,060
Data sets HES APC 2000/01 – 2020/2021 320 21 6,720
HES OP 2000/01 – 2020/2021 320 21 6,720
HES A&E /  ECDS 320 21 6,720
Civil Registration Deaths SCC (one off) latest available 320 1 320
HES-DEATHS bridging file 320 1 320
    total (ex VAT) 28,300

*Years run from 1 April to 31 March.

Scenario 2 - New application for a 3 year Data Sharing Agreement (DSA), from a non-commercial organisation. No plans to retain the data beyond the end of the DSA (specific data sets)

Application type: New application for a 3 year Data Sharing Agreement (DSA), from a non-commercial organisation. No plans to retain the data beyond the end of the DSA.

Dissemination: One-off extract of data to be supplied.    

Datasets: Data requested from period 2017/18, 2018/2019, 2019/2020. Products requested for this period:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care (APC)

Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS) linked to HES

Service: Customer to define characteristics of data required to be linked from specific NHS Digital datasets. Therefore, no initial tracing pack required. NHS Digital to link MSDS data to HES.

Costs:

Item cost (£) Amount Total (£)
Application type New 1,030 1 1,030
Annual review (3 year DSA) 500 2 1,000
Dissemination One extract 930 1 930
Service HES:MSDS bridging file 320 1 320
Data sets HES APC 2017/18 – 2019/20 320 3 960
HES MSDS 2017/18 – 2019/20 320 3 960
    Total (exc VAT) 5,200
Scenario 3 - New application for a 3-year Data Sharing Agreement (DSA). Plans to renew after 3 years and to continue with no fixed end date

Application type: New application for a 3-year Data Sharing Agreement (DSA). Plans to renew after 3 years and to continue with no fixed end date (subject to ongoing approval from NHS Digital to receive and process data and subject to further costs).    

Dissemination: Quarterly extract to be provided by NHS Digital over the 3-year period. No historical data is needed.  

Service: Customer to submit a single cohort of individuals for linkage to various datasets held by NHS Digital. NHS Digital to perform initial cohort trace.

Datasets: Quarterly updates to be disseminated over 3 years.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care (APC)

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Out Patient (OP)

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Critical Care (CC)

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Accident and Emergency (A&E) / Emergency Care Dataset (ECDS)

Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) linked to HES

Diagnostic Imaging Data Set (DIDS) linked to HES

Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) linked to HES

Civil Registration Deaths Secondary Care Cut linked to HES

Cost

Item cost (£) Amount Total (£)
Application type New 1,030 1 1,030
Annual review (3 year DSA) 500 2 1,000
Dissemination 4 extracts per year 930 12 11,160
Service Initial tracing pack 420 1 420
Bespoke data linkage HES 2,060 12 24,720
Bespoke data linkage (MHSDS) 2,060 12 24,720

Bespoke data linkage (DIDS)

 2,060 12 24,720

Bespoke data linkage (PROMS)

 2,060 12 24,720
Bespoke data linkage (Deaths) 2,060 12 24,720
Data sets HES APC 320 12 3,840
HES CC 320 12 3,840
HES A&E/ ECDS 320 12 3,840
HES OP 320 12 3,840
MHSDS 320 12 3,840
DIDS 320 12 3,840
PROMS (linkable to HES) 320 12 3,840
Deaths 320 12 3,840
HES-DIDS bridging file 320 12 3,840
HES-DEATHS bridging file 320 12 3,840
HES-MHMDS bridging file 320 12 3,840
    Total (Exc VAT) 179,450

Last edited: 6 February 2024 12:26 pm