The National Pharmacy Association today called for an above inflation funding settlement and progress towards services and contract reform as it set out three criteria on which to judge a successful 2026/27 pharmacy contract deal in England.
The NPA, which represents around 6,000 pharmacies across the UK said any deal needed to cover cost increases and make progress towards bridging the funding gap identified by the independent economic analysis of the sector commissioned by the NHS last year.
A settlement should also include a commitment to investing in expanding community pharmacy services and prescribing – in addition to funding for medicine supply and dispensing – and set out reform of the pharmacy contract to give pharmacies confidence and end the uncertainty and unfairness created by funding clawbacks, the association said.
The NPA urged Community Pharmacy England to not accept an offer that did not make progress in these areas, arguing that proper funding for medicine procurement and dispensing needed to sit alongside investment in clinical services and prescribing.
Olivier Picard, chair of the NPA said: “Although increased funding in 2025 was a welcome end to years of real terms cuts, pharmacies remain heavily underfunded and shackled by a system that gives little idea from month to month what the Government will pay for NHS prescriptions. That needs to end.
“Financial uncertainty and underfunding of dispensing, alongside a lack of investment in new services leaves pharmacies struggling and holds back the Government’s ambition to transform care in our communities.”
“We want to work with Ministers to deliver their vision of a community health service and want to see a settlement that helps improve neighbourhood services for our millions of patients – proper funding of medicine supply, the embedding of prescribing and clinical services within the pharmacy contract, and real reform of the outdated pharmacy contract.”
As part of a 2026–7 pharmacy settlement, the NPA is looking for:
A real-terms increase in NHS funding for pharmacy – covering the increase in costs and activity, and a clear and credible commitment to closing the funding gap identified by the NHS-commissioned independent economic analysis of community pharmacy.
Commitment to investment in expanding community pharmacy clinical services outside funding for medicines supply to deliver Government ambitions to move care into communities with prescribing services embedded as a nationally commissioned part of the pharmacy contract.
Real reform of the broken and outdated pharmacy contract to give pharmacies much-needed certainty about funding for NHS medicines and services and an end the pain of the unfair system of clawbacks.
