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Northern Ireland's Department of Health has announced a £4m support package to help lessen the blow of a rise in employers' national insurance for Northern Ireland's 511 pharmacies.

The £4m support, which was announced on May 13,  forms part of a projected £40m package for non-statutory providers that will also reach social care providers, hospices, GPs, dentists and opticians.

GPs have been offered £3.5m in national insurance support as part of the proposed 2025-26 contract, although the British Medical Association has asked GPs to reject the contract.

Health minister Mike Nesbitt said: “My three year plan for health and social care includes stabilisation of services amid the current severe financial pressures. Providing assistance with rising National Insurance bills very much fits in with the stabilisation objective.

“It is crucially important to support providers who have been hit with additional costs for reasons entirely outside their control.

“I have therefore decided to take a financial hit rather than leave health care providers to deal with the UK Government’s hike in National Insurance contributions by themselves. That would have been deeply unfair and would have been detrimental to health and social care provision.”

In the run-up to the announcement of the 2025-26 funding settlement for pharmacies in England it was widely hoped that the deal would include dedicated support to offset the impact of higher national insurance costs, which will add tens of millions to employment costs this financial year. This did not materialise.