Leyla Hannbeck / Mclean
Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA), has written to pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock, warning of a “crisis in community pharmacy finances”.
In a letter sent on 4 September 2025, Hannbeck said she wanted to “share the alarming outcomes of our latest survey and the deep disquiet of our members at the current funding deal for community pharmacies”.
Results of a survey of IPA members showed that 92% of respondents believed the current funding situation for community pharmacy was either “poor” or “very poor”.
In March 2025, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) announced a two-year contract for community pharmacy.
The IPA survey, which involved owners of more than 2,500 pharmacy branches across England and Wales, also found that 96% of pharmacy owners said they did not feel adequately compensated for the services their branches deliver under NHS arrangements.
One-half (50%) of respondents said they had considered permanent closure of branches over the past year, while 93% said that “changes to national insurance, tax policy and minimum wage” had a negative impact on their pharmacy operations over the past year, the survey revealed.
In response to a question asking how confident the owners were in their pharmacy’s ability to meet public health demands over the next year, 22% of respondents were “not confident” and 64% were “only confident with adequate funding”.
“Every day, our members deliver vital, face-to-face care to patients in the heart of their communities. We help relieve pressure on GPs and hospitals, boosting the government’s drive for efficiencies across the NHS. There can be no doubt that the sector is in deep crisis,” Hannbeck wrote.
In the letter, Hannbeck also highlighted concern among IPA members that the payment for flu vaccinations provided via pharmacies in the 2025/2026 flu season had not been increased.
“There can be no justification for GPs being paid more than pharmacies for administering the same jab. Nor is there any justification for the fee being frozen yet again when costs for pharmacies are sharply rising,” she said.
In August 2025, CPE announced that the pharmacy fee-per-vaccination for the forthcoming winter flu season was being frozen at £9.58 for the sixth year in a row. At the time, CPE described the decision as “very disappointing”.
GP practices providing vaccinations for the 2025/2026 flu season will be paid £10.06 per jab, NHS England has confirmed.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care commented: “Community pharmacists are at the heart of local healthcare, and we’re turning around a decade of underfunding and neglect that has left the sector on the brink of collapse.
“We want them to play a bigger role as we shift care out of hospitals and into the community through our Plan for Change, and this year we gave community pharmacies a bigger funding boost than any other area of the NHS.”
