Pharmacy: Finance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has provided to community pharmacies through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework in real terms in each year since 2016.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
The following table shows the nominal and real terms funding provided through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework each year since 2015/16:
| Nominal value (£m) | Gross domestic product deflator at December 2025 | Real terms value 2025/26 prices (£m) |
2015/16 | 2,800 | 72.46 | 3,864 |
2016/17 | 2,687 | 73.91 | 3,636 |
2017/18 | 2,592 | 74.85 | 3,463 |
2018/19 | 2,592 | 76.55 | 3,386 |
2019/20 | 2,592 | 78.57 | 3,299 |
2020/21 | 2,592 | 82.68 | 3,135 |
2021/22 | 2,592 | 82.87 | 3,128 |
2022/23 | 2,592 | 88.70 | 2,922 |
2023/24 | 2,592 | 93.38 | 2,776 |
2024/25 | 2,698 | 97.14 | 2,777 |
2025/26 | 3,073 | 100.00 | 3,073 |
In 2025/26, the funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework was increased to £3.1 billion. This represented the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service at the time, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. Additional funding was also made available, for example, for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.
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