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Proposed changes to pharmacy technician standards could prevent access to professional careers for thousands of workers and cost the community pharmacy sector up to £150m per year, the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) has said.
On 18 December 2025, the CCA published its response to the General Pharmaceutical Council’s consultation on changes to initial education and training standards for pharmacy technicians, which proposes to move the minimum qualification level for pharmacy technicians from level 3 to level 4.
The CCA said that it is worried that changes to pharmacy technician standards could have “significant unintended consequences” for the sector via substantially higher training costs for employers and the government of around £75m–100m, plus around £50m per year in higher wages for level 4 technicians.
It also expressed concern about exacerbating existing workforce shortages, as additional requirements for training could both increase dropout rates and create barriers for many aspiring pharmacy technicians.
The CCA said there is “limited need for level 4 skills within core community pharmacy technician roles, which could drive qualified technicians away from community pharmacy settings”.
It added that the proposals would undermine upcoming pharmacy supervision reforms intended to expand technicians’ responsibilities and free up pharmacists’ capacity.
Level 3 is the standard qualification for pharmacy technicians in the UK, while level 4 is currently a post-registration qualification for pharmacy technicians to develop knowledge and skills for advanced practice roles.
According to CCA data, its members employ more than 2,700 pharmacy technicians across Great Britain, which is over one-third of the total community pharmacy technician workforce and approximately half of all trained dispensing assistants and medicines counter assistants who are undertaking training to become a level 3 pharmacy technician.
In a press release published alongside the consultation response, the CCA said: “The CCA and its members recognise that pharmacy technicians play a vital role within community pharmacy, and we support efforts to develop their skills.
“We are very concerned that raising the minimum qualification level will create considerable barriers to many of the people who would normally successfully train to become pharmacy technicians in community pharmacy.”
As a result, it said the proposed changes will impact the current workforce shortages and increase costs “at a time when pharmacy businesses are already on their knees financially”.
Calling the proposed changes to pharmacy technician training “a retrograde step”, which “runs contrary to the ambitions outlined for the sector in the government’s ten-year health plan for the NHS”, the CCA proposed instead that level 3 learning outcomes should be strengthened to ensure robust preparation for core roles and that pharmacy technicians taking on advanced responsibilities should complete targeted additional training.
Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the CCA, said: “We absolutely support efforts to enhance standards across the profession. But there are better ways to raise standards than simply increasing the minimum entry level for pharmacy technicians.
“These proposals make little sense at a time when the sector should be harnessing the benefits of employing pharmacy technicians.
“We must be allowed to raise standards without pulling up the ladder for those looking to start a professional career. We must protect access, diversity and progression, while strengthening training where it matters, and we must ensure the sustainability of the profession within community pharmacy.”
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) is equally critical of the proposals.
Louise Baglole, director of professional services and development at the NPA, told The Pharmaceutical Journal: “It’s excellent to have a path to level 4 qualifications for our valued and expert pharmacy technicians, but limiting entry to those with level 4 qualifications will be costly and deny many people a route into pharmacies.
“We think it’s vital that a level 3 pharmacy technician qualification remains, to meet skills shortages, provide the staff pharmacies need and allow people to start on a journey. It would also be quite wrong to place this excessive cost burden on independent pharmacies who ultimately have to pay for qualifications taken by their staff.”
A spokesperson for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society also told The Pharmaceutical Journal that its response to the consultation is “yet to be finalised with board chairs”, but it will be making a submission to the consultation by the deadline of 24 December 2025.
