Please note: This award entry was made by Luther Pendragon, with the consent of Community Pharmacy England. The shortlisting is not a verdict on negotiations or the wider state of the sector: everyone at Community Pharmacy England knows the enormous pressures that pharmacies are still under and we are working hard to fight for a sustainable future for the sector.
The shortlisting simply reflects an independent judging panel’s assessment of the high quality political influencing work that has been done. Awards such as these are a standard part of the policy and public affairs world, and recognition sends a clear signal that we are an organisation capable of delivering effective political campaigns: awards can help to raise the profile and the importance of community pharmacy and the issues faced, ensuring we are taken seriously as we continue to fight on behalf of community pharmacy.
Community Pharmacy England’s political influencing work with our public affairs partner, Luther Pendragon, has been recognised in the Public Affairs Awards 2026.
Together, Luther Pendragon and Community Pharmacy England have been selected as finalists in the category of Best In-House Consultancy Collaboration for our joint campaign to press for increased funding for community pharmacies. The recognition reflects the impact of our work together to help secure further investment for community pharmacies at a time of unprecedented financial and operational pressures.
Political influencing is a key part of Community Pharmacy England’s work, alongside detailed financial and economic analysis, negotiations, strategic influencing including to set out a vision for the future, and national media work, all of which helps to make the case for community pharmacy. We continue to work closely with LPCs who are critical to delivering political influencing work at a local level.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election our strategy combined high-level political engagement and evidence-led advocacy, supported by economic analysis and wider research, including from leading health policy organisations, to influence Labour and all political parties and their manifestos. We then built a strong cross-party coalition of MPs in the new Parliament, and built on our alliances with patient groups and health bodies. Alongside this, we delivered national media coverage that spotlighted the crisis in community pharmacy and amplified our message to the public and policymakers.
This shortlisting follows previous recognition for our influencing work, including being Highly Commended at the Public Affairs Awards in 2022 for our work to influence the Government’s primary care recovery planning. The recognition demonstrates the consistency and strength of CPE’s wider influencing programme – from shaping policy and funding decisions to driving national debate through media engagement and in-depth analysis.
Zoe Long, CPE Director of Communications, Corporate and Public Affairs, said:
“This award shortlisting is a testament to the huge amount of excellent work that has gone into political influencing at Community Pharmacy England over the past few years. Building relationships and making the case for community pharmacy well before the General Election, and then continuing that in the new Parliament, was critical to influencing funding decisions and to the £800 million funding uplift that the sector received this year.
This has been a team effort across the organisation with funding and economic analysis, forward-looking visions, medicines supply, regulatory and all of our wider work contributing to our influencing of the new Government. A huge thank you also to everyone in community pharmacy who has helped us to make the case for the sector, whether by helping to host MP visits, responding to surveys, posting on social media or other work. With the financial and operational crisis ongoing for many pharmacies, it’s critical that we all continue with our efforts to influence policy and to make the case for further investment and support.”
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