Israel Horga Garcia/ Alamy Stock Photo
Community pharmacies in England are currently owed around £1.55m in unpaid or ‘referred back’ items, which is the equivalent of around £150 per pharmacy, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has said.
In a statement published on 10 July 2026, CPE noted that the figures — based on NHS Business Services Authority data — relate to more than 194,000 claims.
“Around a third (65,000) of these unpaid items have been left incomplete for over six months, with around 2,700 due to expire within the next month,” it said.
CPE added that according to the data, one pharmacy has 2,637 unpaid items, while a further 400 pharmacies have more than 100 items outstanding.
“Delays in completing unpaid items can affect the timing of payments and create avoidable cashflow pressures for pharmacy owners,” it said.
The statement asked owners to check their Manage Your Service (MYS) portal to see if they have any items awaiting action.
Unpaid items occur when there is missing or incomplete endorsed information in a payment request. These items are then returned to the pharmacy for the missing information to be added.
In its statement, CPE also reminded owners that unpaid and returned items are held on the MYS portal for 18 months and are deleted after that time if the missing information is not added, meaning the payment will not be received.
According to CPE, around 1 million prescription items were referred back in 2024/2025 owing to missing or insufficient endorsed information. Common reasons for a return include if the information about the manufacturer/brand, price, pack size or formulation is missing from the claim.
