The Treasury today (November 21) revealed that the Chancellor is “extending the freeze on NHS prescription charges” in England next year to “keep prescriptions under a tenner”.
A single prescription will remain at £9.90 in 2026/27, “saving patients around £12 million next year”, it said.
And it added that “three-month and annual prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) will also be frozen for 2026/27” to keep “costs low”.
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The announcement comes ahead of next week’s budget and, according to the Treasury, will help “millions of hard-working people with the cost of living”.
It will also “ensure that no patient places themselves at risk by not taking their medication due to the cost of picking it up”, it added.
NHS prescriptions have been free in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland since 2007, 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Put “patients first”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves stressed that “no one should put their health at risk because they can’t afford their medication”, adding that “as the cost of living still puts pressure on households, [the government is] extending the cash freeze on prescription charges”.
The Labour government has been “committed to fixing the NHS” since it came into office, she said, noting that she will “take the fair choices to deliver what matters most to the country” at the upcoming budget.
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Health secretary Wes Streeting said that this move is an example of the government putting “patients first”, adding that the freeze will “put money back into the pockets of millions of people”.
“We are fixing our NHS and making it so it’s once again there for you when you need it,” he said.
“Good for patients”
Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) chief executive and executive chair Dr Leyla Hannbeck said that community pharmacies “welcome this announcement” and that it is “good news for hard-pressed patients”.
“But it should also act as a reminder that the fee patients pay is just that - a fee collected by pharmacists on behalf of the government,” she said, adding that “it doesn’t relate to the actual cost to pharmacies of providing that medicine”.
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The sector’s current funding gap that sees pharmacies dispensing at a loss is “unsustainable” and has contributed to “hundreds of local pharmacies” closing as they can “no longer afford to stay open”, Hannbeck stressed.
She reiterated that while the freeze is “good for patients”, an “equally good” settlement for pharmacies is now needed in the next contract.
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National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chair Olivier Picard said that “it’s good news the Chancellor is freezing prescription charges”, but noted that the body has “said for years that prescription medicines should be free”.
“There are many exemptions for prescriptions but people should not be charged for vital medicines - it’s a tax on being ill” and one that “especially hits the working poor”, he added.
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It comes after the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) announced in April that prescription charges for 2025/26 in England would be frozen “for the first time in three years”.
NPA then-chair Nick Kaye deemed the announcement “good news for patients and pharmacies”.
But he added that the body had “long called for the prescription charge to be scrapped”, arguing that the charge “acts as a barrier to some patients accessing vital medication”.
