Free at the point of use, except for the bits that are not. Prescriptions are frozen. Dentistry is not.
Frozen for a second year. It last rose on 1 May 2024. Free everywhere else in the UK.
Source: DHSC
These charges are the same across England, and different in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They do not vary by postcode, so there is nothing to look up.
Below: what is changing, what you could be paying, and what you might be owed. The longer detail stays folded until you want it.
Routinely unclaimed. We do not administer any of these and take nothing for pointing at them.
£32.05 for 3 months or £114.50 for 12, payable by instalments
Anyone in England. No income test. Straight arithmetic: 4 items in 3 months cost £39.60 against a £32.05 certificate, and 12 items in a year cost £118.80 against £114.50.
All prescriptions free
Cancer or its effects or treatment, a permanent fistula, hypoadrenalism including Addison's, diabetes insipidus and other hypopituitarism, diabetes mellitus unless diet controlled, hypoparathyroidism, myasthenia gravis, hypothyroidism needing replacement, epilepsy needing continuous therapy, or a continuing physical disability meaning you cannot go out unaided. Apply through your GP. It is backdated one month.
Free prescriptions and free NHS dental treatment
Pregnant, or you have given birth in the last 12 months. Apply through your midwife, GP or health visitor.
Full help through an HC2 certificate, or partial help through HC3. Covers prescriptions, dental, sight tests, glasses, travel to treatment and wigs.
Income assessed. You cannot apply with over £16,000 in savings, or £23,250 if you live permanently in a care home.
The things that stop the headline figure being misread.
Already dated. Nothing here is a forecast.
NHS dental charges are typically uplifted. Whether the prescription freeze continues into 2027/28 has not been announced.
The full published figures, for anyone who wants to check our working or find their own line.
Frozen for 2026/27, confirmed by written statement in November 2025. This is the second successive freeze. Prescriptions are free for everyone in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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| What | Price | Worth buying if |
|---|---|---|
| Single item | £9.90 | You need one or two items occasionally |
| Prepayment certificate, 3 months | £32.05 | You need 4 or more items in 3 months. Four items cost £39.60. |
| Prepayment certificate, 12 months | £114.50 | You need more than 11 items in a year |
| HRT prepayment certificate, 12 months | £19.80 | You are prescribed any listed HRT medicine. No income test, no limit on the number of items. |
Up about 1.66% on 1 April 2026. Urgent treatment is charged at one band 1 fee even if it needs more than one appointment.
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| Band | Price | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | £27.90 | Examination, diagnosis, advice, X rays, scale and polish if needed |
| Band 2 | £76.60 | Everything in band 1 plus fillings, root canal, extractions |
| Band 3 | £332.10 | Everything in bands 1 and 2 plus crowns, dentures, bridges |
| Urgent treatment | £27.90 | One band 1 charge however many appointments it takes |
The gap between England and everywhere else is the single most useful thing on this page. Wales replaced its band system with a percentage contribution on 1 April 2026.
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| Nation | Prescriptions | Dental |
|---|---|---|
| England | £9.90 an item | Bands at £27.90, £76.60 and £332.10 |
| Wales | Free for all residents since 2007 | 50% of the value of your care package, capped at £384, from 1 April 2026 |
| Scotland | Free for all since 2011 | Examinations free to everyone. Treatment is 80% of cost capped at £384, and all treatment is free under 26. |
| Northern Ireland | Free for everyone, including wigs and appliances | 80% of gross cost capped at £384. Free under 18, and at 18 in full time education. |
NHS dental charges in England rose on 1 April 2026 to £27.90 for band 1, £76.60 for band 2 and £332.10 for band 3. The prescription charge was frozen at £9.90 for a second successive year, along with prepayment certificates at £32.05 for three months and £114.50 for twelve. Prescriptions remain free for everyone in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Source: DHSC
The Welsh dental figures here come from the Welsh Government's press release republished elsewhere, because gov.wales refused every automated request. The 50% and £384 cap structure is sound but we have not published per treatment Welsh figures, because we could not read them at source.
NHSBSA's own HC11 leaflet still shows the 2025/26 dental charges. The figures on this page are the 2026/27 ones from the ministerial statement and the NHS England poster.
Optical voucher values are the amounts currently published, but we could not confirm an April 2026 uprating date for them, so treat them as current published rather than confirmed 2026/27 figures.
Tell us which bills you care about and we will email you when one of them changes, with the figure, the date it starts and a link to the regulator that set it. Free, no account, one click to stop.
Email alerts are not running yet. We would rather say that than take your address and send you nothing. Until they are, the change log carries every dated change the day we find it, and you can bookmark it or follow it in a reader.