Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has 'been assured' that funding negotiations 'will re-commence this month', The Pharmacist has been told.

This comes as Liberal Democrat MPs and Lords have raised the issue of community pharmacy funding in parliament this week, focusing particularly on the impact of National Insurance contribution rises which other NHS employers will receive funding for.

CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said that the negotiator has 'been pushing to start negotiations for many months and this cannot happen quickly enough'.

'Urgent action is needed to keep pharmacies afloat and to protect communities’ access to medicine supply and health advice,' she said.

'We have been absolutely clear to government and the NHS that without an adequate immediate funding injection they can expect to see many more closures – we have been assured that negotiations will recommence this month and this must happen,' she added in a statement shared with The Pharmacist today.

National Insurance rises will 'hammer pharmacies', MPs told

Ms Morrison's comments followed discussion of community pharmacy funding and the impact of increased employment costs, in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords yesterday (6 January).

The Autumn Budget set out increased overheads for employers, including uplifts to the National Living wage and employer national insurance contributions, which the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) estimated could cost an average community pharmacy premises an extra £12,000 each year - totalling around £125m across the sector as a whole.

The government has committed to cover the cost of these increases for NHS trusts but not for community pharmacies.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for health and social care, said: 'If we can improve primary care, we can reduce backlogs across the health and care system.'

But she said that employer National Insurance contribution increases would 'hammer pharmacies', with 'more than a third of pharmacy owners now worried that their business may not survive the winter'.

'If pharmacies close, backlogs will simply increase elsewhere. If we can keep them open and improve services such as Pharmacy First, we can reduce pressure across the system,' added Ms Morgan.

'We would like the government to commit to removing the increase in employer National Insurance contributions to support these crucial community services, so that fewer people end up in hospital and more people are treated in the community, where they will get better and quicker treatment.'

Knock-on impacts of NIC rises will 'undermine' ambitions to 'revive the NHS'

On the same day in the House of Lords, Baroness Kramer, Liberal Democrat Lords spokesperson for the treasury and economy, said the impact of the NIC hikes on healthcare providers risked 'losing many small care providers and seeing large ones cut capacity'.

'Surely the government must recognise that the knock-on effects will undermine their ambitions to revive the NHS; this in turn will undermine jobs and economic recovery,' she added.

And Lord Scriven, the Liberal Democrat Lords spokesperson for health said that if the government could cover the costs in full for NHS trusts, 'why the two-tier system for GPs, dentists, community pharmacies, hospices and social care providers?'

Pharmacy funding will be dealt with in annual discussion with sector, says Treasury

In response, Lord Livermore, the financial secretary to the Treasury, said that the details of the funding would be 'dealt with' as part of the annual funding discussions for each sector.

'Every year, the government consult with each sector about both what services they provide and the money that providers are entitled to in return under their contracts. As in previous years, this issue will be dealt with as part of that process. The Department of Health and Social Care will shortly confirm funding for GPs, dentistry and pharmacy,' he said.

On 20 December, it was announced that discussions were underway with GPs in England for its funding from April 2025.

But formal negotiations for the current 2024/25 community pharmacy contract have not yet recommenced, after they were put on hold in the lead up to the general election last summer.

'Good to see this being debated' but delays to pharmacy funding discussions 'concerning'

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the IPA, told The Pharmacist it was 'good to see' pharmacy funding, including for NIC rises, being debated in the House of Lords.

'We need action, we need our sector to be exempt and we need the unfair funding deficit to be addressed urgently,' she said.

And Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), commented: 'Either pharmacies need to be exempt from paying employers NIC or any uplift in funding needs to account for the increase in costs of providing NHS care arising from this decision.'

He added that it was 'concerning' that negotiations on the 2024/25 Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework continued to be delayed, 'especially as we're not far from the end of the financial year'.

'Pharmacies urgently need an uplift in funding if patient access to medicines is to be protected, and further pharmacy closures halted,' he added.