Healthcare service provided in prisons

The taxpayer provided various healthcare services in prisons under contracts with NHS England (NHSE). A dispute arose as to whether it made a single exempt supply of healthcare services or separate supplies of exempt medical care and taxable prescription drugs and contraceptives.

The First-tier Tribunal decided there was a single exempt supply of primary healthcare or health and social care. The taxpayer appealed.

The taxpayer’s first ground of appeal was that the First-tier Tribunal had considered the single/multiple supply issue before turning to the exemption issue in particular how European Commission v UK (Case 353/85) [1985] STC 251 should be interpreted. On this the Upper Tribunal said this was the ‘orthodox’ approach. It made sense to consider whether there was a single or multiple supply before deciding whether they fell within the exemption.

On whether the taxpayer’s assertion that the judgments in European Commission v UK and Klinikum...