Hospital travel refund checker: can you claim your fares back?

The five questions

The checker asks the questions in the order the scheme applies them. A "no" early on settles the result, so it stops there and tells you why.

1. Were you referred for the appointment by a doctor, dentist or ophthalmic practitioner?
2. Is the treatment or test NHS funded?
3. Do you or your partner get a qualifying benefit, or hold an HC2 or HC3 certificate?
4. Did you travel by the cheapest means reasonable for your circumstances?
5. Is the journey within the last three months?

How each answer changes the result

Referral. The NHS website requires a referral from a healthcare professional to a specialist or hospital, with the appointment on a separate visit. Visits to your own GP, vaccinations and screening checks fail here.

NHS funding. Care you pay for privately is outside the scheme. NHS care delivered in a private hospital still counts, and form HC5(T) sends those claims to the integrated care board for your address.

Benefit or certificate. The qualifying benefits on form HC5(T) are Universal Credit within the earnings limits, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Pension Credit Guarantee Credit. The Universal Credit test uses the last complete assessment period before you paid: no earnings, or net earnings of £435 or less, rising to £935 with a child element or limited capability for work. An HC2 gives full help and an HC3 partial help. With none of these, the checker points you to form HC1 and the NHS Low Income Scheme.

Cheapest reasonable transport. A "no" does not end the claim. You are refunded what the cheapest suitable option would have cost, and the NHS website says a taxi needs agreement from the hospital or ICB before you travel.

Time. Postal claims must arrive within 3 months of the date you paid. Form HC5(T) allows a late claim with a written explanation, but the NHSBSA decides whether to accept it, so the checker treats an older journey as outside the limit.

Worked example: a return bus fare with an HC2

Take a patient with an HC2 certificate who catches the bus to a hospital outpatient clinic after a GP referral. Say the return fare is £5.80. All five answers are yes, so the checker returns full help. At the cashier's office the patient shows the ticket, the appointment letter and the HC2, and receives £5.80. Over a course of 6 appointments the refunds total £34.80.

If the consultant says the patient needs someone with them, the companion's £5.80 is added each time. The 6 visits then return £69.60.

Worked example: a taxi nobody agreed

The same patient takes a taxi both ways at £18 each way, £36 in all, without asking first. Answer 4 becomes no. The claim is assessed at the £5.80 bus fare, the cheapest suitable option, and the patient pays the other £30.20 themselves. Agreeing the taxi with the hospital before the journey is the only way to have it assessed on its own cost.

Worked example: an HC3

An HC3 certificate states how much help you are entitled to. The checker confirms you qualify for partial help but cannot work out the amount, because the figure depends on your own certificate. Take the HC3 to the cashier and the refund is calculated there.

Method

The checker runs the five conditions in sequence. It reads each answer, stops at the first one the scheme rejects and shows the reason with the next step. When all five pass, it shows whether you have full or partial help and how to claim. It does not calculate a refund in pounds. Fares are your own, and the mileage rate for car journeys is set by each ICB rather than nationally.

The checker follows the rules for England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own schemes, set out with the English rules in the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme guide.

Where the rules come from

The referral, separate visit, NHS funding, taxi, cashier's office and PALS rules are from the NHS website HTCS page. The benefit list, the £435 and £935 Universal Credit limits, the 3-month limit, the late claim rule, the age 16 to 18 group and the integrated care board address for private hospitals are from form HC5(T), June 2025. The doctor, dentist or ophthalmic practitioner wording, the HC3 rule and the advice to pay first and claim with evidence later are from leaflet HC11, April 2026. The bus and taxi fares in the examples are illustrations, not published prices.