The UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board (UKPPLAB) has expressed its support for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) to become the Royal College of Pharmacy – hailing the proposed move as an 'historic opportunity to raise the profile of pharmacy' in the UK.

But the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has urged the RPS to abandon its ballot altogether, or if it goes ahead, encouraged pharmacists to vote 'no'.

The RPS is proposing:

  1. To become a royal college, called 'The Royal College of Pharmacy'
  2. To become a charity, which would mean it needs to create a trustee board that is responsible for legal and financial matters.
  3. To create a wholly owned (limited) subsidiary for its knowledge business, Pharmaceutical Press

It will be holding a 'special resolution vote' on the changes for its members between 13 and 24 March 2025.

UKPPLAB would welcome Royal College of Pharmacy if RPS members vote 'yes'

The UKPPLAB was set up to bring together pharmacy professionals and work towards a collective voice for the sector.

It said that a Royal College, done right, could be a sustainable model of professional leadership for both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

And it had the potential to 'catalyse, deepen and focus collaboration across pharmacy professional leadership bodies and specialist professional groups', as well as 'raise the profile of pharmacy in the UK for the long-term'.

'We therefore welcome the commitment of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society to work closely with the Board in the co-creation of the Royal College if its members support this proposal,' the UKPPLAB said in a statement shared on 6 March.

PDA warns against 'irreversible decision'

But the PDA suggested that the RPS ballot, which is due to open this week, was 'hastily convened'.

And in a snapshot poll of 2,000 RPS members and non-members, 67% said they felt not very informed or not at all informed about the proposals to become a royal college, the PDA said.

'What is being proposed is not just a decision about the future of the current RPS organisation whose principal objective is to look after and promote the interests of pharmacists.

'It would likely represent an irreversible decision to lose that objective. The members’ assets would be transferred to a new body whose senior leadership would be significantly made up of non-pharmacists and whose principal objective would be to act in the public interest,' the PDA added.

Will the proposed changes conflict with Pharmacist Support charity?

One of the concerns raised by the PDA was around potential conflict with the charity Pharmacist Support and the RPS's proposed aim 'to relieve poverty, financial hardship, or other distress among current and former Members and Associate Members of the College, their dependents, and those studying or training to be pharmacists, as well as others in the pharmacy profession, as determined by the Trustees.'

But the RPS released a statement today that it did not intend to create competition with Pharmacist Support, but had included the aim as a reflection of 'a long-standing commitment by the RPS to benevolence in the current Royal Charter and which the Charity Commission requires to be explicitly moved to the amended Royal Charter’s charitable objects clause if that commitment to benevolence for the pharmacy profession is to be retained by the Royal College of Pharmacy'.

And the joint statement signed by both the RPS and Pharmacist Support said: 'If the special resolution is approved by members, the RPS intends to ensure that its commitment to benevolence is delivered effectively through strengthening the partnership with Pharmacist Support. A review of the existing partnership agreement will be undertaken to align with the new structure and goals of the Royal College of Pharmacy.'