This publication provides statistics on the number of unique NHS numbers with an associated national data opt-out. The national data opt-out was introduced on 25 May 2018. It was introduced following recommendations from the National Data Guardian. It indicates that a patient does not want their confidential patient information to be shared for purposes beyond their individual care across the health and care system in England. The service allows individuals to set a national data opt-out or reverse a previously set opt-out. It replaced the previous type 2 opt-outs which patients registered via their GP Practice. Previous type 2 opt-outs have been converted to national data opt-outs each month, until November 2018. This is why the monthly increase in opt-outs decreases from December 2018 onward. This publication includes the number of people who have a national data opt-out, broken down by age, gender and a variety of geographical breakdowns. From June 2020 the methodology for reporting NDOP changed, representing a break in time series. Therefore, caution should be used when comparing data to publications prior to June 2020. The number of deceased people with an active NDOP has been captured and reported for the first time in June 2020. Please note that this publication is no longer released monthly. It is released annually or when the national opt-out rate changes by more than 0.1 per cent. Prior to September 2020 there is a slight inflation of less than 0.05 percent in the number of National Data Opt-outs. This is due to an issue with the data processing, which has been resolved and does not affect data after September 2020. This issue does not disproportionately affect any single breakdown, including geographies. Please take this into consideration when using the data. Management information describes aggregate information collated and used in the normal course of business to inform operational delivery, policy development or the management of organisational performance. It is usually based on administrative data but can also be a product of survey data. We publish these management information to ensure equality of access and provide wider public value. Please note, there are instances of legacy CCG codes in the Resident Geography CSV file due to outdated reference tables which will be corrected in future publications.

In order to help me not to misrepresent the data, I would like you to provide further details under the Freedom of Information Act. Please provide: a) Divided by total pensionable pay by salary bands, and by the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23, the number of members who have returned into the scheme, having opted out, in the same financial year b) Divided by total pensionable pay and by salary bands, and by the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23, the total number of all members in the scheme at the start of the year before considering considering any opt-outs I would also like to clarify for certainty, when you say "Members have been counted once for each financial year (01/04 – 31/03) in which they opted out", does this mean if a member opted out of the scheme in 2018, they would be counted in every year since? Must that member decide at the start of each financial year that they are opting out? I understand it is not a reflection of the members' annual salary. Please provide them in these categories: Under £20,000, £20,000 - £29,999, £30,000 - £39,999, £40,000 - £49,999, £50,000 - £59,999, £60,000 - £69,999, £70,000 - £79,999, £80,000 - £89,999, £90,000 - £99,999 £100,000 and Over On the second point, I am trying to understand the number of members eligible for the scheme at the start of each financial year. If this is not possible, just the number of active members in the scheme in total at the start of each financial year please. Response A copy of the information is attached. Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data. The scheme year is 1 April to 31 March. Although financial years are mentioned, records are held in Scheme year and have been provided based on 1 April. For part a, the total TPP bracket is not a reflection of the members annual salary. The volumes are of the members that have opted out and returned to the service again during the same scheme year. In case a member opts out multiple times and returns to a post during the same year, it is still considered only once for the count (unless they return in the next year). Part b relates to members who were active at the start of the Scheme year (1st April). This does not represent the members eligible to join (or opt-out) of the scheme. We have no visibility of those members who opt-out of auto-enrolment and have no idea if members who opted out previously are still opted out (and therefore eligible to opt-in and be considered in any calculated 'opt out rate') or have since left NHS employment completely.