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Community pharmacy in Scotland has been given a 4% uplift in its global sum funding for 2025/2026, amounting to around £9.31m.
On 1 July 2025, Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) said the increase will go towards “additional costs being borne by the network, such as national insurance impacts”.
In May 2025, CPS announced that it had agreed with Scottish government that the guaranteed minimum for drugs reimbursement would rise to £120m for 2025/2026 — an increase from £110m in 2024/2025.
It also previously agreed that the value mapped from the Scottish Drug Tariff would be set at £100m, up from £80m set for 2024/2025.
The latest global sum uplift is less than that provided in 2023/2024, when a 6% pay increase meant the global sum rose by £13.2m.
Matt Barclay, chief executive of CPS, said: “We appreciate the fiscal constraints currently being experienced by Scottish government; however, the 4% being applied this year is not enough to cover the rising operating costs being faced by the pharmacy network.
“Recent government policy documents have pointed to an enhanced role for primary care and community pharmacy as part of wider health service restructuring and refocus. We support this direction of travel, particularly in relation to our place in the detection and prevention of ill-health,” he added.
“However, community pharmacies need to be adequately resourced to support our shared ambitions and unfortunately this settlement currently falls short of our requirements.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish government said: “We have accepted the recommendation of the review body of doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration of an uplift of 4% for eligible primary care contractors, including those in community pharmacy. This delivers an additional £9.31m and increases the remuneration global sum to £242m.
“We believe this, when considered alongside increases in guaranteed minimum income and Drug Tariff part 7 mapped funding, delivers an overall settlement that is affordable, fair and equitable.
“We will continue to work with CPS and other stakeholders in the delivery of the NHS operational improvement plan and programme for government commitments.”
