In Business

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

The Government has agreed a 10.3 per cent funding boost for England’s pharmacies in 2026-27, with total annual funding for the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) and Pharmacy First to rise by £340m to £3,636 million.

Today’s CPCF announcement also reveals that Community Pharmacy England has agreed that an Independent Prescribing element will be introduced to Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy Contraception Service from the autumn – though the negotiator expressed its concerns that this is being “set up to fail” unless more investment is secured.

Under the 2026-27 CPCF, the allowed medicines margin is rising by £200m to £1.1bn – an increase that will be backdated to April 2026.

The Single Activity Fee will increase by 6p to £1.52 per item – backdated to May 2026 – with other dispensing and service-related fees to remain unchanged.

In addition, up to £239m of margin over-delivery accrued up to March 2026 will be written off.

Regulatory changes announced in the CPCF include allowing pharmacies to close up to four hours per month for staff training and ongoing work to stop “the inappropriate management of EPS nominations by a small number of pharmacy owners,” said CPE.

The negotiator said the funding uplift will help meet costs associated with rising activity and inflation but “does not make further significant progress towards delivering sustainability”.

However, it described the funding uplift as “the highest across primary care” for a second year running” and said rejecting the proposed deal would have been “too risky” for the sector’s future.

Prescribing service

The Pharmacy First budget is to be rolled into the core CPCF sum, which CPE said “guarantees the funding envelope to the sector and removes the previous risk of underspend”.

There will be up to five new Pharmacy First clinical pathways, which will be approved by a “clinical reference group” before they are rolled out.  

A prescribing element will be added to Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy Contraception Service from the autumn, with funding to include a one-off £500 setup payment and a ‘monthly infrastructure payment’ of £525 in addition to the usual Pharmacy First and PCS consultation fees.

IPs will also be able to prescribe an alternative medicine where an individual patient requires this, such as if there are supply chain issues.

Late claims for Pharmacy First and the New Medicine Service are to be allowed, with two additional months added to the current one-month claim window and the Department of Health and Social Care to consider CPE’s representations with regard to additional “discretionary claim options”.

CPE said it is concerned that the introduction of an IP service element risks “being set up to fail” if funding is kept at the proposed level, but that for the Government it “was a must” as it was a manifesto commitment.

“We are not persuaded that sufficient investment is being made to enable the full and effective introduction of IP, given the workload, enhanced clinical responsibility, clinical governance and infrastructure requirements that it will entail.”

However, it described it as “a strategically important service development,” adding: “It will be imperative that next year, and in future years, sufficient funding is secured to fully support IP and we will be lobbying intensively for this.”

The negotiator said individual contractors must decide “whether they want to provide the service or prioritise the use of IP skills elsewhere in their business”.

IP service ‘major’ in Labour reform plans

Pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock said the IP agenda will “play a major part” in Labour’s wider NHS reform plans, while chief pharmaceutical officer David Webb said it was “great news” that community pharmacists will “for the first time be able to prescribe NHS medicines across a range of health conditions as a nationally commissioned service”.

CPE chief Janet Morrison commented: “We hope these changes, accompanied by appropriate future investment, will help pharmacies to play an even greater role in supporting patients, improving access to care, and helping people get the advice and treatment they need in their communities.”

Company Chemists’ Association CEO Malcolm Harrison said: “Independent prescribing is a generational opportunity to expand the care that pharmacies can provide to patients. 

“This announcement is the first step in realising this opportunity.”

Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, welcomed the Government’s “recognition that community pharmacy requires further investment”.

She added: “What will matter most now is whether this translates into meaningful, sustainable support for pharmacies facing rising costs and continued financial pressures.

“We must be mindful that pharmacy receives no deficit funding or resources to support its business continuity.”