UK Parliament
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has started talks with Community Pharmacy England (CPE) on the ‘Community pharmacy contractual framework’ (CPCF) for 2024/2025 and 2025/2026.
In an announcement published on 28 January 2025, the DHSC said it had written to CPE on 27 January 2025 “signalling the start of the consultation”.
“The discussions will set the future direction for community pharmacy as it plays a vital role in supporting delivery of the reforms set out in the government’s ‘Plan for Change’,” the DHSC said.
“Moving the focus of care from hospitals into the community is one of the three core shifts outlined in the ‘Ten-year health plan’, which will be published later this year. The government has previously outlined its ambition to make better use of pharmacists’ skills and training to deliver more services for patients within their local communities,” it added.
Community pharmacies have been operating under old contractual arrangements since the previous CPCF expired in March 2024.
In December 2024, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock attributed the delay in a new contract to negotiations not getting “over the line” before the July 2024 general election.
Pharmacy bodies had raised concerns that the delay in negotiations had left community pharmacies at breaking point, with the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) warning earlier in January 2025 that it would be left with “little choice” but to advise pharmacies to take collective action over delays to the negotiations, after pharmacy owners voted in favour of taking action in a ballot in November 2024.
Commenting on the beginning of the negotiations, Kinnock said: “I am committed to working closely with CPE to agree a package of funding that is reflective of the important support that they provide to patients up and down the country.
“I am confident that together we can get the sector back on its feet and fit for pharmacies and patients long into the future.”
Janet Morrison, chief executive of CPE, commented: “We are relieved that discussions on the arrangements for community pharmacy are now commencing.
“CPE will consider very carefully if the proposals that the government is putting on the table address the severity of the funding crisis in community pharmacy.
“Everyone in community pharmacy shares the government’s ambition for a vibrant community pharmacy sector, playing a vital role in delivering long-term health plans, but this can only be achieved if the sector is put on a sustainable financial footing,” she added.
Nick Kaye, chair of the NPA, said: “After many months of delay, it’s good that the DHSC has finally opened discussions on the desperately-needed financial settlement for pharmacies.
“The situation is critical for patients and the public, so any deal from government must make significant progress towards filling the yawning funding gap that pharmacies face and it must open a clear route-map to reform and a sustainable future.
“We remain clear that if an offer were not to meet the tests set out by us earlier [in January 2025], we would be left with little choice but to recommend members reduce services in the interests of protecting patient safety and access to medicines.”
Amanda Doyle, national Director for primary care for NHS England, said: “We recognise that pharmacies are under pressure, and we are committed to working with the sector and government to ensure that patients can continue to receive high-quality care building on the exceptional work of teams over the past few years to develop and expand new services for patients.”
