FOI/2022/4558
You asked
Please may I make a formal Freedom Of Information request relating to:
1) how many vouchers (their value and the proportion of value against vouchers that were successfully redeemed) across the entire study you have withheld due the expiry date.
2) minutes of all the meetings occasioning the decision to enforce a 3month expiry date. This would include the documented expectation of the percentage of participants that are expected to redeem their vouchers before this time. It would also include the options appraisal for choosing shorter and longer expiry dates.
3) where does the money go when it is withheld due to voucher expiry.
4) How many people have contacted your company to complain about the voucher expiry dates and non-user friendly method of converting these into spendable vouchers with retailers
We said
Thank you for your enquiry,
Q1.
10,247,501 Vouchers have been issued with a value of £271,251,855.
9,766,645 with a value of £257,010,305 have been issued digitally with an expiry date of three months from issue. Of these 8,574,209 have been successfully redeemed to a value of £226,549,955.
810,990 vouchers have expired with a value of £22,871,555.
480,856 with a value of £14,241,550 have been issued via postal vouchers. There is no facility to track whether these vouchers have been redeemed or expired.
Q2.
We do not hold any minutes of meetings regarding the 3 month expiry period or expectations of redemption of vouchers.
Q3.
The funds from expired vouchers are returned to the CIS funding department, the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency).
Q4.
We have received 91 complaints about vouchers. Of these 48 related to expiry dates and 2 to the conversion method.