Key Summary
- From 1 April, annual pay for foundation trainee pharmacists will be increased to £30,000 per annum.
- The starting salary for newly qualified full-time pharmacists will remain at £50,000.
- Pharmacy managers with a post-registration experience of over a year will get a higher salary of £55,000.
Superdrug has agreed to increase the pay of its pharmacists from 1 April after reaching an agreement with the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) union, according to media reports.
Amit Vassa, head of pharmacy operations at Superdrug, and Paul Day, director at PDA, announced the hike in a joint statement.
This is the first joint statement since Superdrug employees voted in favour of the Pharmacists' Defence Association Union in December 2025.
From 1 April, annual pay for foundation trainee pharmacists will be increased to £30,000 per annum.
All eligible pharmacists in the bargaining unit will receive a 3 percent increase to their existing basic pay, while all pay bandings for those roles will rise by the same percentage.
However, the starting salary for newly qualified full-time pharmacists will remain at £50,000.
The salary of pharmacy managers with more than one year of post-registration experience will be increased to £55,000 from £50,000.
Pharmacy managers who complete a year of post-registration experience before the next pay review will get a hike in the month following that anniversary.
The agreement also stated that all mandatory training and nationally commissioned services that require training should be done in paid time.
If training is done outside of normal working time, pharmacists must make their manager aware to ensure they receive the correct overtime pay.
