Key Summary
- The funding increase will cover growth in activity and inflation in the coming year but does not make progress towards delivering sustainability.
- Independent prescribing will be included in Pharmacy First, but CPE said they were not persuaded that "sufficient investment" is being made to make it effective.
- The Single Activity Fee will increase by 6 pence to £1.53 per item.
The much-anticipated 2026/27 Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) negotiations have concluded, with Community Pharmacy England agreeing to a 10.3 percent increase in funding for community pharmacies, bringing the budget to £3.636 billion for this financial year.
The settlement also includes a £200 million uplift to the margin allowance and, in response to CPE’s representations, the government is also making a write-off of net contract (margin) over-delivery earned up to the end of March 2026 - saving pharmacy owners up to £239 million more in recovery - in efforts to stabilise the increasingly volatile medicines supply chain.
The Single Activity Fee (SAF) will increase by 6 pence to £1.53 per item.
Budgets for Pharmacy First, the Pharmacy Contraception Service and the Hypertension Case-Finding Service will be combined with the CPCF, to secure funding. The funding uplift to CPCF includes an allowance for central digital costs.
The CPE said that despite pharmacy being prioritised for a higher funding uplift than other parts of the NHS, and improvements to the final offer achieved during negotiations, committee members were very reluctant to accept the deal.
The funding available will cover growth in activity and inflation in the coming year, but does not make further significant progress towards delivering sustainability to an increasingly unstable sector, it added.
Independent prescribing
Independent prescribing (IP) will be included in Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy Contraception Service later in the year.
Five new Pharmacy First prescribing-only pathways will be introduced after approval by a clinical reference group.
Options to be considered include bacterial conjunctivitis, allergic conjunctivitis, oral thrush, skin infections and respiratory tract infections.
The CPE said they were not persuaded that "sufficient investment" is being made to enable the full and effective introduction of IP within the CPCF, "given the workload, enhanced clinical responsibility, clinical governance and infrastructure requirements that it will entail."
"Throughout the negotiations, we raised our concerns that with the proposed funding, the addition of IP to the CPCF risked being set up to fail.
"It will be down to pharmacy owners to decide on an individual basis whether they want to provide the service or prioritise the use of IP skills elsewhere."
The CPE has warned the government that the pressures on pharmacies will mean "continued closures, reduced opening hours, deteriorating quality of service and risk of unavoidable harm to patients.
"We will continue to press for the long-term sustainable solution that community pharmacies, and everyone they serve, needs, and for specific measures such as to improve medicines supply resilience, prevent pharmacies from having to dispense at a loss, and for further investment to support Independent Prescribing."
Regulatory changes
However, some progress has been made on certain regulatory changes.
- To allow pharmacies to close for up to 4 hours a month to support staff training.
- To allow late payment claims for Pharmacy First and New Medicine Service (NMS).
- To continue work to help to protect pharmacy staff from patient abuse and violence.
- To continue work to stop the inappropriate management of EPS nominations by a small number of pharmacy owners.
There will be a 2-month late claim window for Pharmacy First and the New Medicine Service (NMS) - the two Advanced Services that still have a 1-month claim window.
This gives pharmacy owners a total of three months to claim.
Funding uplift
CPE, however, thanked the government for treating pharmacy preferentially for the second year running, saying in their statement that "the pharmacy funding uplift is the highest across primary care, and higher than that of the overall NHS".
They have also committed to working jointly on reforms that will build the strategy for community pharmacy and explore alternative contract, funding and reimbursement models, "which would have been impossible without constructive engagement with government".
Difficult decision: Morrison
CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said: “This was a very difficult decision for committee members, who know themselves how serious the situation is for pharmacy owners – as evidenced again and again, including by the independent economic review – and understand why some have called for more radical action.
“But they also know that a 10 percent funding increase is significant in a tight government spending envelope and should not be dismissed. It reflects the case we have made to Government and ministers – over many months and years – to prioritise pharmacy funding.
“Accepting this deal does not mean we think it is enough — for this year or the future. It does not mean we will simply accept whatever Government or the NHS proposes. And it does not mean the job is done.
“It means the opposite. We have been clear with Government that the sector is in a critical position, and that we now need urgent work on a sustainable long-term solution, including reform of the contract, funding and reimbursement model. As part of this deal, Government have committed to work with us on this programme of work.
“That work will be difficult and will take time, but refusing this deal would have put more pharmacies — and the services they provide to patients and communities — at greater risk. The Committee was not prepared to take that risk."
Impossible choices: Hewitson
Mike Hewitson, committee member and an NPA representative, said, “As many in the sector will know, launching independent prescribing was at the top of my list for the future of community pharmacy. It is strategically important and helps pave the way for the wider clinical future we all want.
"But in negotiating with Government, we faced impossible choices. Ministers secured the funding they could, but it is clear the allocation for IP will not be enough for many pharmacy owners to take on the additional clinical responsibility.
"By accepting this deal, we hope to signal our continued commitment to IP, and we will now lobby hard for further investment so it can become a genuine success from the next financial year onwards.”
