Community Pharmacy England CEO Janet Morrison and Steve Race MP, Chair of the APPG for Pharmacy, hosted a Parliamentary event this week (Monday 7th April) on the pharmacy funding settlement for 2024/25 and 2025/26.

Community Pharmacy England representatives met with 25 cross-party MPs and Parliamentary Staff Members at the Houses of Parliament, with some dialing in from constituencies, to brief them on the outcome of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework negotiations.

During the busy Westminster event, attendees were updated on the Government’s uplift in pharmacy funding – with an overall benefit to pharmacy owners of £841m in 2025/26. But Janet made clear that while this is a welcome and significant step, it still falls well short of the £5 billion identified by the independent economic review as necessary to meet community pharmacy’s rising costs. The Government has acknowledged this funding gap and committed to working with the sector to develop a sustainable funding and operational model.

Community Pharmacy England will continue to engage with the Government to work towards this promise, and will also be continuing its political influencing work to help ensure this happens, as well as significant ongoing economic and wider work programmes to influence the ongoing Government Spending Review and Ten Year Health Plan.

MPs in attendance this week were fully engaged and raised important questions about how the uplift will support pharmacies in rural and deprived communities, as well as the regional breakdown of funding. They sought clarity on the timescales for establishing a long-term sustainable funding and operational model, and asked how LPCs will be engaged in the process. Attendees were also interested in how the new funding arrangements will be delivered locally to ensure fair access across all areas.

The meeting concluded with a call to action for continued parliamentary backing for community pharmacy, including support through constituency visits during the Easter recess and engagement with national efforts to secure a sustainable long-term future for the sector.

Community Pharmacy Chief Executive said Janet Morrison said:

“It was great to see so much support for pharmacies from MPs and their staff. As I said on the day, this settlement gives community pharmacy a foundation upon which to build, with a Government who is listening. However, it is by no means a panacea to all of our problems.

This event was the first step in our next phase of Parliamentary and wider influencing work as we work to protect community pharmacies for the long-term. We look forward to working closely with our Parliamentary supporters, and others, to urge Government to take the vital further steps needed to address the funding shortfall in the upcoming Spending Review and to invest in the sector’s clinical potential: this will shape pharmacy funding for the next three years and beyond.

It’s important that everyone in community pharmacy works together to achieve these aims, and today we are publishing a raft of new resources and briefings as a starting point to this.”

Ongoing Political Influencing Work

Our objective is to ensure Government delivers on its commitment to a sustainable funding and operational model for community pharmacies: closing the funding gap, while continuing to develop the sector’s role in healthcare positively. All asks to MPs should contribute towards this objective.

Following the recent announcement of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework for 2024/25 and 2025/26, we are continuing our political influencing campaign to gain wide and vocal support from MPs and Peers from across all parties, and to ask for their help in pressing Government to act to protect our community pharmacies for the long-term.The Parliamentary event this week was a first step in that work, and we will be hosting a schedule of events events and briefings, combined with national media work, over the comings months.

LPCs and pharmacy owners are asked to support this work. In the first instance you may like to consider writing to MPs or hosting pharmacy visits for them using our two updated guidance documents:

Guidance for writing to MPs (to follow shortly)

MP visit Guidance (to follow shortly)

We have also produced a number of briefings, including an animation, which you can share with MPs or other stakeholders:

We need to ensure MPs understand the situation for pharmacies: despite the welcome investment in the sector as part of the CPCF arrangements for this year, we can expect to see pharmacies continuing to struggle financially and operationally, meaning people may continue to go without advice and medicines, and turning to other parts of the NHS.

Ongoing activities at a national level will include hosting cross-sector events in Parliament, supporting Parliamentary questions and debates, co-ordinating letters to Ministers, and engaging with Government and party advisors.

Support from LPCs and pharmacy owners at a local level remains critical, and your help to engage with MPs would be very much appreciated.

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