If you are filling in an HC1 form, or wondering whether you need to, the short version is this: apply online if your circumstances allow it, and by post if they do not. What follows covers what the scheme pays for, who is already covered without applying, the savings limits that decide who can apply at all, and how to claim back money you have already spent.
Apply for help: the HC1 form
If your savings are under £6,000, you can apply online. GOV.UK’s own service hands to NHSBSA’s application directly, but you cannot use it with more than £6,000 in savings, in Northern Ireland, as a student with a partner living with you, or with no income (NHSBSA, NHS Low Income Scheme, checked 1 November 2026).
You can apply online through the GOV.UK service, which starts an application on NHSBSA’s own site. If you cannot apply online, order an HC1 form online and NHSBSA will post it to you, or download and print the form yourself; both routes are on the same NHSBSA page. Post it, with your supporting evidence, to NHS Help With Health Costs, Unit 5 Greenfinch Way, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE15 8NX — this is not a freepost address, so it needs a stamp (NHSBSA, checked 1 November 2026).
You can also ask for a form at your local Jobcentre Plus office or NHS hospital, or from a doctor, dentist or optician (nhs.uk, checked 1 November 2026). For help with the form itself, the NHS Low Income Scheme helpline is 0300 330 1343.
What the scheme covers
The scheme helps pay for health costs that a low income makes hard to manage. NHSBSA lists what full help gives you: free prescriptions, free dental treatment, free sight tests, help with glasses or contact lenses, help with travel to treatment, and free wigs and fabric supports (NHSBSA, HC2 certificates (full help with health costs), checked 1 November 2026).
Any help you are entitled to also covers your partner and any dependent young people included on the claim. It does not extend to costs outside that list, such as private treatment or medicines bought over the counter.
Who gets help without applying
Some benefits already carry full help with health costs, so an HC1 is unnecessary. NHS.UK says you do not need to apply if you or your partner get income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit guarantee credit, or Universal Credit and meet the criteria, because these already entitle you to full help with health costs (nhs.uk, checked 1 November 2026).
If you get Pension Credit but only the savings credit part, on its own, that does not carry the same automatic entitlement, and you may still need to apply through the scheme. Our Pension Credit guide explains the difference between the guarantee credit and the savings credit.
Free prescriptions from 60, in England
If you are 60 or over in England, you get free NHS prescriptions without applying for anything. NHSBSA states you are entitled to free NHS prescriptions if you are aged 60 or over, alongside people under 16 and those aged 16 to 18 in full-time education (NHSBSA, Free NHS prescriptions, checked 1 November 2026).
This covers prescriptions alone, and it is separate from the wider Low Income Scheme, which also helps with dental, optical, travel and wig costs.
Who applies, and the capital limits
You need to apply if your income is low and none of the automatic entitlements above cover you, and two savings figures decide whether you can apply at all. NHSBSA says you cannot apply with more than £16,000 in savings, investments or property other than your home, or £23,250 in a care home (NHSBSA, NHS Low Income Scheme, checked 1 November 2026).
In Wales, the care-home figure is £24,000 rather than £23,250. Below those limits, NHSBSA works out your weekly needs, including a personal allowance, any premiums for disability or caring, housing costs and Council Tax, and compares them with your weekly income to decide how much help you get.
HC2 and HC3: full help or partial help
Your certificate sets the level of help you get, and there are two kinds. NHSBSA says the amount of help depends on whether you have a certificate for full help with health costs, called an HC2. A certificate for partial help is called an HC3, and it shows what you still have to pay (NHSBSA, NHS Low Income Scheme, checked 1 November 2026).
Broadly, if your weekly income is the same as or less than your weekly needs, you get full help; if it is higher but not by much, you get partial help; and if it is a lot higher, you do not get help at all. Certificates usually last between 6 months and 5 years, depending on your circumstances (nhs.uk, checked 1 November 2026).
Refunds: HC5 and the three-month limit
If you paid for treatment before your certificate arrived, you can claim the money back, but the window is short. NHSBSA says you must claim a refund within 3 months of the date you paid the charge or had a sight test (NHSBSA, Apply for a refund, checked 1 November 2026).
For prescriptions, ask your pharmacist for an NHS receipt form FP57 when you pay, because you cannot get one afterwards. For dental, optical, travel, wig and fabric support costs, you need the matching HC5 form: HC5(D), HC5(O), HC5(T) or HC5(W). You can claim a refund at the same time as applying for the scheme itself, rather than waiting for the certificate first.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
This page covers the scheme in England; the other UK nations run separate arrangements with their own forms and rules. In Scotland, prescriptions are free (NHS inform, checked 1 November 2026), and the Low Income Scheme there helps with other NHS charges and may help with hospital travel costs (NHS inform, checked 26 October 2026).
Wales runs its own low income scheme, using a form called HC1W, covering dental treatment, sight tests, glasses and travel costs; the Welsh Government publishes its rules on gov.wales. Northern Ireland runs an equivalent scheme, also applied for on a form called HC1, returned to your local Jobs & Benefits office rather than to NHSBSA in Newcastle (nidirect, Claim for help with health and travel costs, checked 1 November 2026); Northern Ireland prescriptions are free for everyone, with nothing to apply for (nidirect, Help with health costs, checked 1 November 2026).
If you are checking whether Pension Credit would cover you automatically before working through an HC1, our gap estimator shows the shortfall your circumstances produce.