Reimbursement of Living Donor Expenses by the NHS

Background

The Human Tissue Act (2004) prohibits commercial dealings in human material, including organs or part organs for the purposes of transplantation. It is an offence to seek or receive payment or any other reward for providing organs or part organs for transplantation.

However, the Human Tissue Act (2004) does allow donors to receive reimbursement of expenses, such as travel costs and loss of earnings, which are reasonably attributable to and directly result from donation.

All such payments should be made by a proper authority, for example a Trust or foundation hospital, or in the case of a private patient, the hospital. Details on the levels of reimbursement are available in the Department of Health’s guidance on Reimbursement of living donor expenses by the Department of Health available from:

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/NationalServiceFrameworks/Renal/RenalInformation/DH_4069293

Donors should not be reimbursed directly by the recipient or by their family or friends. The HTA requires that checks are made to ensure that no other payment or reward is made and that the donor does not profit from the donation.

Tax credits – Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit

A person’s entitlement to Child Tax Credit will not be affected by the fact that he or she is a live donor. A short absence from work should not affect a donor’s entitlement to Working Tax Credit, including the child care element, because assuming the donor plans to return to work as soon as he or she has recovered, the Revenue would not regard the absence as affecting the donor’s ‘usual working hours’.

When entitlement to either or both of the tax credits is assessed, only taxable income is taken into account. So if donors receive non-taxable income, they are not required to report it to the Inland Revenue. Donors who need further information should contact the Tax Credit Helpline on 0845 300 3900 for further advice.

Contact

Transplant Policy Team
Department of Health

Enquiries: Tel 020 7972 4921

May 2009

The National Kidney Federation cannot accept responsibility for information provided. The above is for guidance only. Patients are advised to seek further information from their own doctor.

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