The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has written a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves warning that “many pharmacy businesses will be unable to survive” the increase in business rates “without further support from the government”.
The body today (January 15) urged the government to “extend any support being offered to pubs to community pharmacies”, which have been closing in “record numbers” in recent years, it said.
It comes as reports last week revealed that pubs would receive additional support to manage increased levels of business rates.
Read more: Government can turn a corner and ‘rebuild pharmacy’, Kinnock says
The NPA stressed that if the proposed rise in business rates goes ahead in April, it will “push many pharmacies to the brink of collapse”.
It would also “significantly limit access to health services, put more pressure on other public services, reduce [the] sector’s contribution to the UK economy and put many jobs at risk”, it said.
“It would be indefensible if pubs were singled out for support over community pharmacies, a number of which face” their bills running into “tens of thousands of pounds” in April, the body added.
Pharmacies offer “more than just beer”
NPA chief executive Henry Gregg said that while pubs “may well deserve support...pharmacies offer more than just beer”.
“Unlike an ordinary business on the high street, pharmacies are primarily funded by the NHS and cannot increase their prices for the nation’s prescriptions to meet this soaring cost,” he said.
Read more: Pharmacies face closures and ‘lay-offs’ after autumn budget
Gregg called for pharmacies to be “treated as an equal partner in the NHS and given the same support with their business rates as GPs and NHS dentists”.
And he noted that despite last year’s “welcome” funding uplift, the NPA is concerned that “many pharmacies are hanging on by their fingertips”, which could lead to “more closures impacting the patients [they] serve”.
Services are “crumbling”
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) chief executive Janet Morrison also voiced concerns about the impact of rising costs on community pharmacy in a column in the Daily Express last week (January 11).
“We’ve been listening to the hospitality sector talking about the rise in costs, including national insurance and the minimum wage, and we’re in exactly the same position,” she said, stressing that pharmacies “can’t simply raise [their prices]”.
“There’s got to be more money put into the NHS pharmacy contract and the drug tariff” and overheads like lighting, heating and staffing “to keep the doors open”, she added.
Read more: Government to cut pharmacy business rates from 2026
Morrison stressed that pharmacy services are “crumbling” and that the sector is in “a very grim situation”.
“Pharmacies are a vital community asset and too many are at risk”, she said, and their survival “all comes down to money”.
It comes after pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock this week told the House of Commons that the government is “aware of the pressure on pharmacy” and said it was a “major challenge” for the Department of Health and Social Care (DH).
