GPs have paused collective action after accepting a contract deal for 2025/26, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.

Pharmacy leaders have welcomed this move and the potential for increased working between the sectors, but have said attention must now turn to community pharmacy negotiations.

With community pharmacy contractual framework negotiations still ongoing, the chair of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) told The Pharmacist that if a 'substantial increase in funding' was 'not imminent', it would 'not hesitate in recommending members take action'.

The new contract deal will see GPs in England get a £889m uplift in core funding, as well as £80m in additional service fees for asking hospital teams for advice and guidance.

According to our sister title Pulse, the funding boost is intended to cover any extra costs from National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

Following the contract agreement, the BMA's GP committee said it ‘will now pause collective action’ to work with the government over the coming weeks to ‘secure the necessary assurances’.

The GP committee said its agreement to the 2025/26 contract is conditional on the government’s commitment to a ‘full renegotiation of the new national contract’ by the end of Labour’s parliamentary term.

The union did however warn that if negotiations for a totally new GP contract fail, the GP committee ‘will need to potentially discuss re-entering dispute and action escalation again’, noting that this outcome is ‘in nobody’s interest’.

Community Pharmacy England has previously said that GPs working to rule was likely to result in more people seeking help and advice from their community pharmacy, and that pharmacies had seen a reduction in formal Pharmacy First referrals since the action began.

And The Pharmacist reported last week that GPs in England will be required to enable GP Connect Update Record and Access Record functionality in their practices from 1 October 2025 – a functionality that an estimated two-thirds of practices had switched off as part of collective action.

Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), said the CCA was 'pleased to see that collective action by GPs has been paused', and noted that GP Connect was 'essential to providing patients with the best possible care and bringing together all parts of primary care'.

But he added: 'Now it is time to focus on the community pharmacy contract. Hopefully negotiations will address longstanding funding concerns, delivering a much-needed uplift required to stabilise the community pharmacy network.'

And NPA chair Nick Kaye said that pharmacy collective action was still on the table.

'Our members voted overwhelmingly in favour of collective action in November if steps were not taken by the government to reverse a decade of underfunding which has led to record numbers of pharmacies to close and left many others hanging on by their fingernails,' he said.

'Patience is running out and we remain clear that if a substantial increase in funding is not imminent, we will not hesitate in recommending members take action to protect the future of their pharmacies for patients.

'General practice needs to be properly funded but pharmacies too 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 10 Year Plan for the NHS, alongside our colleagues in general practice.'

In response to a written comment in Parliament this week, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock said the government was 'working at pace' with CPE to 'ensure that the funding we have available is used to support community pharmacy in the best way possible'.

'We will announce the outcome in the normal manner, by letter to contractors, when the consultation has concluded,' he added.