Income Support and Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance are to be abolished by the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) from 1 April 2026. Some payments will continue to be made for a two-week run-on period to provide transitional protection, which means that people may continue to claim exemption from prescription charges on the grounds of Income Support or Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance until the end of 14 April 2026. After 14 April 2026, these legacy benefits will no longer provide a valid basis for entitlement to exemption from NHS prescription charges. Please note: Income-related Employment and Support Allowance remains a valid exemption category and patients in receipt of this benefit should continue to select Box H on the reverse of prescription forms and/or EPS tokens.
From 15 April 2026, the prescription exemption categories for Income Support (Box H) and Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (Box K) will no longer be valid reasons for exemption from NHS prescription charges for people previously receiving these benefits. Prescriptions dispensed on or before 14 April 2026 with a declaration for the Income Support or Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance exemption category will continue to be treated as exempt, even if the prescriptions are submitted for payment after this date.
The reverse of FP10 prescription forms and EPS tokens will be updated in due course to remove the Income Support and Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance exemption categories. In due course, Pharmacy IT systems will also need to be updated to remove or hide these exemption reasons from selection. We will update pharmacy teams as soon as we receive confirmation of the timeline for these changes.
These changes are part of the ongoing migration from legacy benefits to Universal Credit and follow the removal of Tax Credit exemption category in April 2025. People who are in receipt of Income Support or Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance may qualify for Universal Credit. However, it is important to note that Universal Credit does not automatically entitle people to free NHS prescriptions. To continue being entitled to free NHS prescriptions, patients must meet the Universal Credit criteria for help with health costs based on their last complete assessment period, or qualify under another valid exemption category. More information can be found on the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) website here.
If your pharmacy PMR system is enabled with Real Time Exemption Checking (RTEC), this can be used to check whether a patient has a valid exemption before dispensing their prescription. If an exemption is confirmed by RTEC, patients will not need to provide proof of entitlement to free prescriptions or make a declaration on the reverse of the EPS token.
Patients can also be directed to the NHSBSA eligibility checker to check if they are entitled to free NHS prescriptions. If a patient is unsure whether they are entitled to free NHS prescriptions, pharmacy staff should advise the patient to pay for their prescription and provide them with an FP57 receipt and refund form at the point of payment. To claim a refund, the patient can return to any community pharmacy with their FP57 form along with evidence of their entitlement to free NHS prescriptions.
Pharmacy teams can download our updated Dispensing Factsheet: Exemptions from the prescription charge for guidance on the categories of exemption from NHS prescription charges and details of the evidence required to prove entitlement to free NHS prescriptions.
The post Income Support and Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance exemptions to end from April 2026 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.