The Pharmacy Defence Association (PDA) has welcomed Boots' confirmation that provisionally registered (prov-regs) pharmacists will receive the same salary as newly-qualified pharmacists.
Prov-regs at Boots are part of the bargaining unit represented by the PDA-Union and their salaries will now be subject to negotiation between the company and the Union, the PDA said in a statement.
The pharmacy chain has now begun advertising for prov-regs at the agreed £36,600 annual salary.
“It is right that they should be paid no less than a newly qualified pharmacist would have been paid this year if the pandemic had not occurred,” the PDA noted.
In 2019, the PDAU and Boots held a series of talks on pharmacists' pay during which the Union called on the company to work together to improve the recruitment and retention of its pharmacists.
This measure builds on the main pay settlement announced in November and is expected to help start to achieve that objective.
In January, PDA negotiated a new, higher starting salary for newly qualified pharmacists at Boots, and the Union welcomed the fact that this year’s provisionally registered pharmacists (prov-Regs) would be paid the same.
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