NHS England » National Cost Collection for the NHS

The National Cost Collection (NCC) publication comprises aggregated costs (the average unit cost of providing defined services to NHS patients in England) and patient-level costs/PLICS (a cost based on the specific interactions a patient has, and the events related to their healthcare activity).

NHS providers submit costs annually. These costs are used to inform a number of work streams including the PLICS dashboards, the Model Health System, the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme and NHS Payment Scheme prices. They are a key source of information about the cost of NHS services.

Update August 2025

The NCC data for the financial years 2018/19 to 2023/24 was recently removed from the NHS England website while we reviewed the handling of high cost drugs (HCD) currency codes.

We have now completed an initial remapping of HCD currency codes to appropriate drug groupings. The data was republished on 14 August 2025 with the following changes.

2022/23 and 2023/24 data
All high cost drug costs have been temporarily excluded. A more comprehensive grouping and mapping, informed by the commercial medicines and pricing teams and relevant pharmacy representatives, is in development. Once this is finalised, we will recalculate and release updated versions.

2018/19 to 2021/22 data
High cost drug costs are presented as a single line in the national schedule and as a single total cost line at organisation level.

2023/24 National Cost Collection data

The National Cost Collection data is published in the following ways:

the national schedule of NHS costs
the National Cost Collection Index
organisation level cost MFF adjusted
organisation level cost unadjusted
organisation level files: excluded cost and look up tables.

Power BI dashboards

This year’s (2023/24) data has been published as Power BI dashboards, to improve usability. Please note that it will not be available in Excel format.

National schedule of NHS costs – The main schedule, showing data for the whole range of services provided by provider, including admitted patient care on a finished consultant episode (FCE) basis.

National Cost Collection Index – The National Cost Collection Index (NCCI) is a measure of the relative cost difference between NHS providers.

2023/24 National Cost Collection data files

Organisation level source data part 1 – Unadjusted data as submitted by NHS providers in England.

Organisation level source data part 2 – Market forces factor (MFF) adjusted data.

Organisation level source data part 3 – Remaining organisational source level data and reference tables including calculation of the impact of IFRS16 and PFI on the 2023/24 National Cost Collection.

Further information on the 2023/24 National Cost Collection, including details of the context for calculation of PFI costs, can be found on the Futures Costing workspace.