The community pharmacy sector in Wales will receive a £6m additional funding boost as a ‘stability payment’, the Welsh Government has announced.

The payment is subject to certain conditions, agreed by Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW).

Pharmacies will get the funding through ‘an increase in practice payments equivalent to an additional 30p per prescription item dispensed in January, February and March 2025', the Welsh Government said in a letter to contractors dated 2 April 2025.

What has CPW agreed in return for the funding?

In return for the funding, contractors in Wales will have to:

  • Participate in the Sore Throat Test & Treat (STTT) Service and Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Service as a mandatory component of the Common Ailments Service (CAS). Contractors must register to provide the STTT service from 3 June and the UTI service from 1 October, or will be unable to provide CAS.
  • Visit a GP practice in their cluster between 1 April and 30 September 2025, in order to raise awareness of these services.

A winter pressures incentive will also be put in place for minimum CAS thresholds each month from October 2025 to 2026.

And when policy work has concluded, CAS will be expanded to include additional ailments, such as shingles and impetigo.

This will be rolled out based on which ailments are expected to release the greatest amount of capacity in primary care this winter, the Welsh Government said.

And CPW will undertake work to ‘support further expansion of the Pharmacist Independent Prescribing services (PIPs)’, the letter said.

How will pharmacies in Wales receive the payment?

Period Total practice payment Contribution included in Practice Payment for transition Contribution included in Practice Payment for Equality Act (EA)
Current practice payment (from 1 April 2024) 25.1p N/A 6.6p
Current practice payment from 1 October 2024 – 31 December 2024 51.1p 16.7p 6.6p
Current practice payment from 1 January 2025 – 31 March 2025 36.4p 5.6p 6.6p
Revised practice payment from 1 January 2025 – 31 March 2025 66.4p 5.6p 6.6p

Source: Welsh Government letter to pharmacy contractors, 2 April 2025

Where has the funding for Welsh pharmacies come from?

The letter to contractors stated: ‘Additional funding has been provided to health boards to meet the cost of the stabilisation payment to pharmacies.’

How does this compare to pharmacy funding in England?

Also this week, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) agreed a deal with the government for community pharmacies in England.

For 2025/26, the community pharmacy sector in England will get £3.073bn for the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF), and can earn an additional £215m through Pharmacy First, blood pressure and contraception services.

The CPCF uplift included a 19p increase in the single activity fee (SAF), effective from April 2025.

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