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Placement funding for foundation trainee pharmacists will increase to £28,196 for the 2026/2027 academic year, with immediate effect and backdated uplifts to payments already made, NHS England has announced.
In a statement published on 1 September 2026, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) highlighted NHS England’s announcement, which noted that the funding uplift for the 2026/2027 academic year is a 3.3% increase compared with the £27,295 per trainee paid to sites in 2025/2026.
Sites employing pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians (PTPTs) will see funding rise from £15,505 to £15,769 per trainee, it added.
The statement also revealed that the funding increases took effect from 1 September 2026 and apply to trainees starting in summer and autumn 2026. The funding will be paid automatically to eligible training sites, with no additional action required, it continued.
In addition, NHS England said that the payments will be backdated to each trainee’s start date. An uplift will be applied to payments already made for 2025/2026 cohort trainees — for pharmacists, this covers 1 April 2026 to 31 August 2026, while for PTPTs, it covers 1 April 2026 to completion, it added.
Graham Stretch, president of the Primary Care Pharmacy Association, welcomed the funding uplift but told The Pharmaceutical Journal on 2 September 2026 that it remains “insufficient” to cover training salary costs, “even at national minimum wage levels”.
He added: “[This means] employers must continue to make a substantial financial contribution simply to participate in workforce development.
“More importantly, the funding available for pharmacy trainees remains significantly below that provided for GP medical trainees, despite both groups requiring structured supervision, educational support and investment from GP practices and PCNs [primary care networks].
“The current disparity risks sending the message that pharmacy training is of lesser strategic importance, when pharmacists are increasingly delivering clinical care, managing long-term conditions, improving medicines optimisation and helping address GP workload pressures.”
The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) believes that the funding amount would not cover trainee pharmacist salaries, particularly if the full amount was not passed on to the trainee.
A spokesperson for the PDA said: “Too often we hear from trainees whose employers deduct various amounts, thus reducing the individual’s pay. Employers have a duty to ensure the individuals receive at least the minimum wage, and even if in receipt of the full NHS payment, a working week of 45 hours would be a breach, so when amounts are reduced this would occur at a shorter working week threshold.
“Foundation trainees are a government-funded extra team member for the employer, and though they must also be provided with sufficient time and support for their training, overall they are an addition to capacity. Taking a trainee is also a way employers play their part in supporting the profession and sector.”
The need for designated prescribing practitioners “remains a challenge” to pharmacist training, the spokesperson added.
Mahendra Patel, chair of the Royal College of Pharmacy’s English Pharmacy Advisory Council, commented: “Pharmacy teams continue to work under significant pressure, making it more important than ever that trainees receive high-quality education, supervision and support across every sector.
“The NHS long-term workforce plan sets out an ambitious expansion plan to increase the number of pharmacist training places. As pharmacists take on greater clinical and prescribing responsibilities, sustained investment in education and training is essential to ensure every trainee is equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver safe, effective care and meet the changing needs of patients and communities they serve.”
The announcement follows a series of changes to pharmacy funding in recent years.
In November 2023, NHS England (then NHS Health Education England) announced that foundation trainee pharmacist funding would rise to £26,500 per trainee from 2025/2026, in a move to “harmonise” funding across all sectors and regions.
In April 2026, NHS England began transitioning PTPT funding towards a single, harmonised national rate of £15,505 per learner, per year, for two years, under the Community Pharmacy Technician Apprenticeship Programme 2026.
Speaking to The Pharmaceutical Journal in May 2026, Amy Laflin, president of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK, said that community pharmacy technicians continued to “face barriers” accessing training support compared with counterparts in NHS-managed sectors.
She also called for “continued attention” to ensure community pharmacy could participate fully in workforce growth.
