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The ‘Community pharmacy contractual framework’ (CPCF) for 2026/2027 will not be in place for the start of the financial year, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has announced.
In a statement published on 27 March 2026, CPE said that negotiations between the organisation, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England were ongoing and that “it is clear that they will not reach a conclusion before the start of the financial year on 1 April [2026]”.
It added that current arrangements will continue until negotiations have concluded.
“As has always been the case, the contractual framework rolls forward until the conclusion of negotiations and any changes to funding and services are introduced,” the statement added.
“In the meantime, [the] DHSC has applied a margin uplift to the April [2026] Drug Tariff. Once the outcome of negotiations is determined, further fine tuning of the Drug Tariff may be required.”
It continued that it is “not yet clear” when negotiations will conclude.
Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said the delay was “inexcusable” and called for emergency funding.
“It is deeply disappointing that pharmacies will have no certainty going into an incredibly challenging new financial year, with eye watering new bills to pay.”
“The government must stop treating hard working pharmacies as second class citizens. If financial arrangements can be put in place for GP colleagues with ample time before April [2026], there is no excuse as to why the same courtesy can’t be afforded to pharmacies,” he said.
“Given this inexcusable delay, the government should provide pharmacies with an urgent stabilisation payment so they can meet increased business rates and living wage costs hitting them in just a matter of days.”
In 2024/2025, pharmacies worked without a financial contract, after negotiations were delayed, which the government attributed to the 2024 general election.
In March 2025, the CPCF for 2024/2025 was then announced alongside the 2025/2026 contract, in which pharmacies received a £617m funding boost.
