Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has written to chancellor Jeremy Hunt to express concern over the potential financial impact of the upcoming rise in the National Living Wage (NLW).

Signed by Janet Morrison, CPE chief executive, the letter also called for a ‘targeted funding uplift’ to the core contract.

The government’s recently announced minimum wage hike means the NLW will rise from £10.42 to £11.44 per hour from next April. In addition, the age threshold applied to the NLW will be lowered from 23 to 21.

The separate minimum wage for workers aged 18 to 20 will also rise, from £7.49 an hour to £8.60.

Following the government’s announcement of the uplift in November, Ms Morrison warned that pharmacy businesses could not absorb cost increases and remain viable.

Now, she has told the chancellor that CPE is ‘extremely concerned’ that underlying core funding remains at ‘critically low levels’ and that the additional cost of implementing the uplift in the NLW is ‘unsustainable’.

The letter said that CPE ‘supports the goals of the National Living Wage’ but added that core funding has been ‘cut by 30% in real terms during the period of our five-year NHS contractual framework’.

Ms Morrison said the sector was ‘in crisis’, citing Lloyds Pharmacy exiting the high-street and Sainsbury’s in-store pharmacies, as well as Boots closures and other multiple pharmacy groups posting ‘record losses’.

She wrote that ’the pain is being felt across all sizes of pharmacies – from large and medium chains to small independents, with many dispensing medicines at a loss and struggling to pay their rents, drugs and utilities bills’.

Ms Morrison added: ‘We are about to enter into negotiations for our next year of contractual funding and would urge you to bear this in mind when the mandate for those negotiations is agreed.

‘Community pharmacy needs a targeted funding uplift to the core contract to keep us afloat, and our doors open to ensure our new services have a real impact for patients and their communities.’

The Pharmacist has contacted the Treasury for a response.