VAT exemption on medical services supplied

We are a vat registered company who, as a small part of our business, supplies paramedics and medics to provide emergency pre-hospital medical care for participants at events. My understanding (in accordance with VAT Notice 701/57) is that if we supply a paramedic or medic (who will work under the supervision of a paramedic) to offer this service to participants, this particular service should be vat exempt. All medics/paramedics would be working under our company's direction rather than working for an alternative company (such as the event organiser). Please would you confirm if this interpretation is correct. Thank you.

Hi pirateman,
As long as the treatment is performed by a registered health professional then the provision of treatment would be exempt from VAT as long as :
The services are within the profession in which you’re registered to practice.
The primary purpose of the services is the protection, maintenance or restoration of the health of the person concerned.
Please see the guidance below:
Health professionals and pharmaceutical products (VAT Notice 701/57) 2. Medical services provided by registered health professionals
Thank you.

Thank you for your reply. Just to clarify, if we provide a non-registered medic as part of the service, does the same apply so long as the medic is working under the supervision of a registered paramedic / doctor? Thank you.

Sorry - I also meant to ask whether, to comply with the VAT exemption, the registered paramedic must be on site or whether they are able to supervise remotely (there are times where our paramedic or doctor is overseeing a number of medics at different locations and operates from a central location). Thank you again for your help.

Hi pirateman,
.Care services can be exempted when a medic not is enrolled on a statutory medical register as long as they are supervised by a registered health professional.
Please see :

5. Exemption for care services performed by suppliers that are not enrolled on a statutory professional register
Supervision would be where:
The services are supervised by a registered health professionals  and the supervisor is professionally qualified to perform and supervise the service.
The service requires supervision by a registered health professional, and is provided predominantly to meet the medical needs of a client.
The supervisor has a direct relationship with the staff performing the service, and is contractually responsible for supervising their services.
A qualified supervisor is available for the whole time that the care service is provided.
No more than 2,000 hours per week of staff time are supervised by a single health professional.
A supervisor has a say in the level of care to be provided to the client, and will usually see the client prior to the commencement of the care service..
The supervisor must be able to demonstrate that they monitor the work of the unregistered staff.
If the supervision is provided remotely then each one of the above criteria would need to be met for the supply to be exempt from VAT.
Thank you. 

Thank you very much for this. Sorry to ask another question, but it is essential I get this right! Please could I check the following: If my company is contracted by another company (such as the event organiser) to deliver emergency medical services (as described above, by a registered paramedic and/or by a non-registered paramedic under the supervision of a registered paramedic) to a third party, such as guests at an event who are not directly paying for the medical services we offer but are the beneficiaries of these medical services, is that service still VAT exempt, or would the contract have to be between my company and the third party beneficiary (ie the end users)? Thank you, in anticipation.

Hi pirteman,
As long as the conditions in section 5 of notice 701/37 are being met then exemption may apply.
If you are don’t believe the guidance is clear for your specific situation then please refer to the information on requesting a VAT Clearance:
Find out about the Non-Statutory Clearance Service
Thank you. 
 

Hi, section 5 of 701/37 doesn't appear to be relevant to my company's situation - so I'm a bit confused by your last message. I was referring to "Health professionals and pharmaceutical products (VAT Notice 701/57)". We are not a registered institution. My company supplies medical services (as referred to at the start of this thread) as part of its operations. Your previous helpful responses have clarified that, if our medical services remain under our control and the service is provided by a registered paramedic and/or medics supervised by a registered paramedic, then the service would be exempt from VAT. My query was to check whether for the VAT exemption to apply, the contract needs to be between our company and the end user of the service, or whether it can be between ourselves and say an event organiser company to deliver medical services to end users at an event, and still have VAT exemption. I hope that clarifies the query. Thank you.

Hi,
We apologise but in the last answer we provided to you the incorrect guidance was referred to.
The correct public notice is 701/57 section 5 and the VAT exemption can still apply if the conditions are met within this section.


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Thanks for your help. There is just the outstanding query in relation to the contracted parties that I need to understand. If the contract is between myself and an event company to provide paramedic emergency medical services (as described above) to a third party (such as guests at an event who are not directly paying my company for the emergency medical services we offer), is that service VAT exempt? OR would the contract have to be directly between my company and the third party beneficiary (ie the beneficiary of the emergency medical services)? Thank you.

Hi,

It is the nature of the medical care which determines whether a supply is exempt from VAT. So as long as it meets these conditions then it will not matter who the contract is with.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for confirming, and for the help above.