GPs in England have agreed new funding arrangements with the government for the next financial year that will see them receive a £889m uplift in core funding, as well as £80m in additional service fees for asking hospital teams for advice and guidance.

The new contract will also see GPs and practice nurses included within the main Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), and the removal of the cap on the number of GPs that can be employed through ARRS.

Community pharmacy leaders have responded by urging the government for a 'fair funding model' for the sector and have reiterated the increasing pressures of contractors working with an outdated contract.

Alongside a £969m 'new investment uplift', the contract details published by NHS England today state there will be an increase in the IoS (Item of Service) fee for routine childhood vaccinations for GPs.

This comes on top of the £433m added to the GP contract during autumn last year.

Today's agreement also stipulates that the government must commit to a full renegotiation of the new national contract during this Parliament.

The new deal was announced today follows an emergency meeting of the British Medical Association (BMA), though the full published GP contract is still awaited.

An initial offer for the 2025/26 contract was made to the BMA on 20 December 2024, sparking outrage among pharmacy leaders as negotiations had not at that point recommenced on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for either the current financial year or the next.

Negotiations with Community Pharmacy England (CPE) on the 2024/25 and 2025/26 community pharmacy funding agreements then recommenced at the end of January, and are still in progress.

The discussions are understood to be underpinned by the findings of the economic review of community pharmacy.

But NHS England (NHSE) has said it will not share further details of the review while contract negotiations are ongoing.

Yesterday the Health and Social Care Committee (HSCC) asked NHSE to share when it anticipates the economic review will be fully completed, and if and when it intends to publish the analysis and accompanying data in full.

IPA: 'Primary care does not function without pharmacy'

Commenting on the announcement of the GP contract today, a spokesperson for the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) said: 'The government must recognise that primary care does not function without pharmacy.'

'The GP contract provides a guaranteed financial uplift with reduced targets, whereas pharmacy contractors must work harder for stagnating income.

'To ensure pharmacies remain viable and integrated within primary care, a fair funding model is essential.

'Community pharmacy needs a sustainable financial framework that provides stability, recognises inflationary pressures, and appropriately rewards service provision.

'The current disparity must be addressed to ensure a sustainable future for the sector,' they added.

'Sort out the current year before you sort out the future years'

Pharmacy contractor Ashley Cohen told The Pharmacist that GP contractors 'deserved' the uplift announced today but highlighted that community pharmacies had not received any uplift in several years, and were still waiting on their funding arrangements for the current financial year, which ends in a month.

'My frustration is: sort out the current year before you sort out the future years. It just feels that we are the bridesmaid again, that we're always the last.'

Mr Cohen highlighted how the lack of a new contract this year has placed uncertainty and pressure on pharmacy owners.

To cover increased employment costs over the last 11 months, without a new contract to support rises in national living wage or inflation – as GP practices have received – Mr Cohen said that he had borrowed tens of thousands of pounds to pay staff salaries in his three branches.

'I paid that in good faith, I borrowed the money in order to do that, and yet I haven't had that money paid back,' he said.

'How can I plan how much am I investing into my team, my staff, my premises, my business, when I have no idea what's coming through for this year or even next year?' he added.

And he said that 'if the pharmacy sector is still hemorrhaging cash' this 'will only put more pressure' on GPs 'if the front door of the front door isn't solved'.

'If pharmacies aren't there, then what happens to Pharmacy First, minor illnesses, pharmacy deserts, where people get their prescriptions back, support for medicine shortages?

'My plea would be: sort out this current year. We're into the very final month, and we still don't know what we're being paid, and that's been on the back of nine years with the frozen funding,' he added.

NPA: 'GPs deserve an increase, but pharmacies urgently need a new deal'

A spokesperson for the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) also highlighted that 'pharmacies still have no deal for the current financial year, yet GPs already have one agreed for the next'.

'That leaves many pharmacies edging closer to a financial cliff edge when new employment costs are loaded on from April.

'Our members need certainty and an injection of funding that stops the closures and allows pharmacies to invest in staff and services, to deliver great care for patients and the NHS.

'GPs deserve an increase, but pharmacies urgently need a new deal that will stabilise the community pharmacy network and set us on the path to a sustainable future – in which we are playing our full part in delivering the forthcoming Health Plan for the NHS, alongside our colleagues in general practice,' they added.

CCA: 'Now it is time to focus on the community pharmacy contract'

Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists' Association (CCA) said the trade body was 'pleased that the government’s actions reflect their stated ambition to move care from hospital to community'.

'Now, it is time to focus on the community pharmacy contract,' he said.

'We are hopeful that this positive intent will also be reflected in the contract for pharmacies that is currently being negotiated. Core funding for community pharmacy has decreased in real-terms by over £1bn since 2015/16, and it is past time for pharmacies to see a funding increase,' he added.