Jhoots boss says he is selling stores to pay staff wages

Sarbjit Singh Jhooty, acquisitions director at Jhoots Pharmacy, has told The Pharmaceutical Journal that he is selling and remortgaging stores in order to pay staff wages and rent.

“My main aim at the moment is to dispose of stores, which I’m doing, about 30 stores being disposed [of], and then I’m back to normal… [it’s] the only way I can pay the wages, get everything back to normal,” he said.

Jhooty said he would sell more stores if necessary.

“I’ve got near enough everything on the market at the moment to see what’s the best price I can get and make a decision for which ones I want to sell and which I don’t want to sell,” he added.

Jhooty also confirmed that his freehold properties are being valued this week.

“We’re remortgaging … I’m working constantly to make sure everyone gets paid,” he added.

In an email to The Pharmaceutical Journal, Jhooty also said he is “working with the NHS” to resolve all matters.

Jhooty’s remarks follow comments made in Parliament by prime minister Keir Starmer, who said it was “simply unacceptable that customers and staff have been so badly let down”.

Speaking in Parliament on 22 October 2025, Starmer said: “Officials are currently reviewing whether the integrated care boards and General Pharmaceutical Council need additional powers to address pharmacy businesses that do not play by the rules … that could include powers for the council to go after business owners in addition to the pharmacy professionals.”

The comments came in response to an question from Simon Hoare, Conservative MP for North Dorset, who said that Jhoots was “effectively de facto bankrupt and possibly even insolvent too”, which was having an impact on patients securing their prescriptions.

“It is now becoming increasingly evident that while HM Revenue and Customs is being told by Jhoots that staff are being paid, they are not,” he added.

Hoare highlighted two Jhoots employees in his constituency who “have not been paid since 18 July [2025]” and were “resorting to the kindness of friends and the support of food banks to make ends meet”.

He also urged the prime minister to convene the Department for Business and Trade, HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Health and Social Care “to secure a better, fair deal for patients and for those who are currently trapped in employment — not being released by being made redundant and not being paid”.

During a House of Commons debate about Jhoots on 15 October 2025, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock said pharmacy business owners were “not regulated as strongly as they could and should be”, and that he had “commissioned urgent advice from my officials to see how we can beef up the regulatory framework”.

Responding to Hoare and Starmer’s remarks on social media, several pharmacists suggested that while Jhoots is an isolated incident, more and more community pharmacies were struggling to make ends meet.

Ian Strachan, owner of Strachan’s Pharmacy Group, said: “It isn’t an issue of stiffer regulation or sanctions. It’s funding driving this build up of debt. The government’s own economic analysis from Frontier Economics not only predicted this misery but maps out precisely how the widening deficit year on year will impact pharmacies and patients alike. The consequences are inevitable unless the warnings are addressed.”

Olivier Picard, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, commented: “This may be an individual case, but it reflects a worrying trend across the community pharmacy sector. While no one wants to see… more regulation, it’s clear that when a profession receives only around 58% of the funding it needs to operate safely and sustainably (as established by the NHS’ own independent economic analysis of the sector last year) situations like these become far more likely.

“Without fair and consistent funding, pharmacies will continue to struggle to meet the needs of patients and local communities.”

In a statement made to The Pharmaceutical Journal, Manjit Jhooty, director of Jhoots Healthcare Ltd and Pasab Ltd, which owns and operates 21 of the 151 Jhoots Pharmacy stores across the UK, said:  “There is no legal, financial or governance connection between my companies and those operated by Sarbjit Jhooty. We are independent businesses and share only the Jhoots Pharmacy brand name.

“The pharmacies that my businesses operate are all fully solvent, functional and continue to provide important services and professional support to their local communities, and that is not going to change.” 

The economic analysis of NHS pharmacy services in England, which was conducted by Frontier Economics and IQVIA and published in March 2025, looked at data provided by 1,166 pharmacies across 102 companies.

It found that the cost of delivering NHS pharmaceutical services across England in 2023/2024 is estimated to be £5,063m against a funding level of £2,755m — a shortfall of £2,308m.