Pharmacy owners are being reminded that recent changes to speed up payment of flu vaccination provision means their end of December payment may be lower than expected, having already been paid in November.
Following a change in policy, several NHS services are now being paid on the same date as the early Advance payment for dispensed prescriptions, including the Adult Flu Vaccination Service. Community Pharmacy England has been pressing the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to agree to do this for some time as it provides quicker payment for delivering services, something many pharmacy owners have been requesting.
From September 2025, pharmacies receive Advance payment (fees and reimbursement) for providing NHS flu vaccinations in line with their early Advance payment for prescriptions, i.e. paid four working days after end of the month for which the activity was claimed (provided the claim is submitted via the Manage Your Service portal by the 5th of the following month).
This is likely to result in a higher average item value (AIV) in subsequent months, with pharmacy owners receiving an inflated Advance payment which is later adjusted when the reconciliation payment is due circa 2 months later. Given that large-scale provision of flu vaccines commenced in October, the effect of this will be more prominent in payments relating to October activity.
As AIV is used by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) to calculate all Advance payments including drug reimbursement, the inclusion of the Adult Flu Vaccination Service has the potential to cause cashflow variations for pharmacy owners as the payment for the service washes through. The impact will vary on a case-by-case basis depending on the relative proportions of flu vaccines and prescriptions, as well as the product mix in each individual pharmacy. We have highlighted this to DHSC and are monitoring its impact to determine the extent to which it may need to be addressed in future years.
Full details of the change and how this will appear in your FP34 Schedule of Payments are available here
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