Everything you need to know about what services pharmacists will stop doing from April 1 in its bitter pay dispute with the Government
Pharmacists will shut on weekends and some evenings as part of unprecedented “collective action”. The National Pharmacy Association has advised its 6,000 member chemists in England to start the ‘work to rule’ action if no extra Government funding is agreed by April 1.
The Mirror is campaigning to save family chemists and stop the hundreds of closures which are piling pressure on overstretched GPs. The board of the NPA, which represents independent community pharmacies, has recommended cutting pharmacy services back to contractual minimums for the first time in its 104-year history.
It will strip back services if there is no last minute deal in the next fortnight citing unfunded extra costs including the rise in National Insurance for businesses, a National Living Wage and Business rates increase. It says this follows a 40% real terms funding cut since 2017 under the Tories.
The NPA is recommending that chemists take the following steps as part of their collective action to contractual minimums.
- Restrict opening hours to the minimum required by their contract with the NHS.
- Stop free home deliveries of medicines.
- Stop locally-commissioned work including stop smoking and other addiction support services as well as emergency contraception.
- Refuse to co-operate with certain NHS data requests not required for patient safety and contractual minimums.
NPA chair Nick Kaye said: “Pharmacies have shut in record numbers and those that are left are hanging on by their fingernails waiting for the delivery of a financial settlement that protects services on which millions of people rely.
“We hope that an offer from the government emerges by April 1 to cover the additional costs which pharmacies will face and start to plug the huge gap in funding created by 10 years of real terms cuts. If pharmacies do not get adequate funding, then patients risk losing access to their local pharmacy altogether, threatening their access to vital medicines and health services.”
The NPA says community chemists face a “financial cliff edge” from next month due to changes announced in last October’s Autumn budget.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will increase employer National Insurance Contributions for 2025/26, raising the rate by 1.2% points to 15% and lowering the earnings threshold at which companies pay from £9,100 to £5,000. The Government has exempted the NHS itself from the NIC rise but pharmacists, GP practices and social care providers – which operate as independent businesses – will have to pay.
The NPA estimates the NI rise coupled with the latest increase in the National Living Wage will cost them £310 million. And it says business rates could also increase by an estimated 140% for many pharmacies.
The separate Independent Pharmacies Association puts the additional cost of the National Insurance change at £50 million a year and calculates that the sector is facing a “shortfall” of £1.7 billion.
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the IPA, said: “Independent pharmacies do not have the vast supermarket-style retail offerings that corporate pharmacy chains such as Boots, Superdrug and supermarket pharmacies have, which can help plug the shortfall in funding for providing primary healthcare services, that’s why it is so important pharmacies are exempt from the increase to National Insurance contributions.”
Around 90% of an average pharmacy’s work is funded via the NHS. They provide vital services including flu and covid-19 vaccinations and health screenings for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.
The NPA says a decade of real terms funding cuts mean 29 pharmacists have shut just since the beginning of the year and around 1,300 since 2017. It says its collective action could result in up to one million hours in pharmacy time lost over the next year. Pharmacies need to give the NHS five weeks’ notice of a change in hours.
NPA chair Nick Kaye said: “We are advising our members to reduce their pharmacy opening hours or take other steps to limit costs in the short term, in order to safeguard patient services for the long term. This is not a step anyone of us wants to take, but we have been left with little choice because in just two weeks time new business costs will be hitting local NHS pharmacies across the country.
“It is better that we temporarily reduce access in the short term than to let pharmacies collapse altogether under the weight of unsustainable operating costs.”
The Independent Pharmacies Association is calling on MPs to back amendments to the National Insurance Contributions Bill that would exempt pharmacies from the rise. Last month the House of Lords voted to exempt pharmacies from having to pay increased National Insurance contributions from April, these amendments will now be considered and voted on in the House of Commons on Wednesday 19 March.
The IPA’s Dr Hannbeck added: “Coupled with the rise in the National Living Wage, the cost to an average community pharmacy will be more than £12,000 each year. Pharmacies simply do not have the cashflow to stomach these costs. We are urging MPs to back the Amendments put forward by the Lords, without them pharmacies across the UK will have no option but close their doors.”