The government is adding a further £3 million into the 2022/23 community pharmacy funding pot, chief pharmaceutical officer Andrew Evans wrote in a letter to contractors earlier this week (September 7).

But access to this funding will be conditional on employers “implementing a pay award for staff”, Mr Evans added. Further details include:

• Employees directly involved in pharmaceutical services must receive a pay increase of “at least” 4% – however, this increase does not need to include non-employees, area or regional managers, or head office support staff
• Those with an annual salary over £45,839 may be awarded an increase lower than 4%, but this should be at least £1,400 – pro-rata for staff working less than 40 hours per week – “in line with the pay award for NHS staff”
• The increase must be effective as of April 1 of this year, “and if necessary be backdated and must be consolidated”.

The Welsh government will work with NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership to check these pay increases have been applied by pharmacy owners.

It will take back funding where pay rises have not been awarded, Mr Evans warned.

How will the extra funding be provided to contractors?

The additional £3m investment from the government will increase 2022/23 funding for pharmacies to £157.2m.

Fees paid to contractors for clinical services, pharmacist independent prescribing services, the quality and safety scheme, and the collaborative working scheme will all go up by 4%.

Meanwhile, fees for the workforce incentive will increase by 2%, backdated to April 2022, Mr Evans wrote.

He reminded contractors that when the pay rise was announced in July for NHS staff in Wales, the health minister Eluned Morgan specified that community pharmacy teams would also get a “fair, proportionate and equitable pay uplift”.

Community Pharmacy Wales welcomes the additional funding, director of contractor services Judy Thomas told C+D.

Ms Morgan’s commitment to ensuring pharmacy teams also receive a pay uplift – despite the sector not being within the remit of the NHS Pay Review Body – “is a testament to the work of community pharmacy staff during a very difficult period”, Ms Thomas added.

In July, pharmacy bodies voiced their concerns after public sector pay rises announced for England failed to take the community pharmacy sector into consideration.