Pharmacy
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what form of impact assessment on pharmacies was carried out prior to changing the payment claim window for pharmacy first services from 3 months to five days.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
As part of delivering the Pharmacy First service, pharmacy contractors receive a monthly fixed payment if they meet specific requirements, which include minimum activity levels.
From June 2025, pharmacies delivering 20 to 29 consultations receive £500, while those with at least 30 consultations continued to receive £1,000 monthly. To make this change and facilitate more timely payments, the claim window for Pharmacy First was reduced from three months to one month. The new tier of payment supports pharmacies with lower potential for delivery and has increased the number of pharmacies qualifying for Pharmacy First fixed payments.
This adjustment was agreed with the sector representative body, Community Pharmacy England, as part of negotiations for the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework for 2025/26. An article was published in May 2025 by NHS Business Services Authority providing advanced notice.
For the clinical pathway element of the Pharmacy First service, 241,340 consultations were delivered in April, 242,077 consultations were delivered in May, and 254,692 consultations were delivered in June. In April, 3,996 contractors received the £1,000 fixed payment, in May 3,979 contractors received the £1000 fixed payment, and in June 4,051 contractors received the £1,000 fixed payment while 1,565 contractors received the £500 fixed payment.
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