Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has announced that contract negotiations for the 2026/27 funding deal with the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and NHS England (NHSE) “are still in progress”.
“While all parties have been working hard on the negotiations, it is clear that they will not reach a conclusion before the start of the financial year on April 1,” it said today.
It is also “not yet clear when negotiations will conclude”, it added.
Read more: CPE shares contract negotiation timeline update
CPE explained that arrangements will “continue as they are currently” until negotiations have concluded with the contractual framework rolling forward until this happens.
And it reiterated that CPE negotiation team’s “top priority” is to secure a “more sustainable” contract which includes “improved margin delivery, fees [and] reimbursement”.
Read more: Morrison: Next pharmacy contract ‘expected’ to be one-year deal
It is also “making the case for a multi-year roadmap with the DH and NHSE to give pharmacies long-term certainty”, it added.
The pharmacy negotiator reassured contractors that it will “update pharmacy owners on these outcomes as early as possible”.
“Work intensively”
CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said that while discussions are “now expected to continue into the new financial year, I want to reassure you that CPE’s focus remains firmly on securing the best possible outcome for pharmacy owners’ interests”.
The negotiating team continues to “work intensively on your behalf, analysing complex proposals and putting forward detailed options informed by priorities agreed with the full committee”, she continued.
Morrison explained that “it is hard to predict when negotiations and cross-government clearance will be complete” but acknowledged that pharmacy owners are “concerned about the impending financial cliff edge that April represents, with increases in business rates and the national living wage coming into effect”.
Read more: ‘Immediate’ action called for as negotiation delays continue
“This is at the forefront of our minds at every step and has been factored into our proposals, and we continue to warn the government about the urgent need to close the sector’s funding gap,” she said.
Morrison stressed that CPE is “fully committed to achieving progress and will update [pharmacy teams] at the earliest opportunity”.
Deeply disappointing
Reacting to the news, NPA CEO Henry Gregg said it was “deeply disappointing that pharmacies will have no certainty going into an incredibly challenging new financial year, with eye watering new bills to pay.
“The government must stop treating hard working pharmacies as second class citizens. If financial arrangements can be put in place for GP colleagues with ample time before April, there is no excuse as to why the same courtesy can’t be afforded to pharmacies.
“Given this inexcusable delay, the government should provide pharmacies with an urgent stabilisation payment so they can meet increased business rates and living wage costs hitting them in just a matter of days.
“Without stabilisation, pharmacies will have no choice but to cut back services that patients depend on”
“This is not only a question of money, it is also about showing due respect to hardworking and long-suffering members of the NHS team, who should not be made to wait for progress on bridging their funding gap.”
Read more: Contract negotiations delayed amid government ‘conflict’
It comes after CPE last month set out a timeline from April to July to “conclude and implement 2026/27 negotiations” for the community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF).
Meanwhile, both the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) called on the government in January to begin negotiations for the 2026/27 contract “as soon as possible” as delays continued into the new year.
