“CPE has agreed a mechanism to allow pharmacy owners to receive the 19p SAF increase sooner for the dispensing months of April 2025 and May 2025,” the negotiator yesterday (April 16) said.
Last month, the new 2025/26 pharmacy contract revealed that the SAF paid to contractors was set to increase by some 15%, rising from £1.27 to £1.46.
“Under normal procedures, advance payments are calculated by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) using the latest available average item value (AIV) figure for each individual pharmacy,” CPE yesterday said.
Read more: Funding breakdown: Write-offs, service payments and activity fees
“As the historic AIV figures would not have incorporated the 19p SAF increase, pharmacy owners would have received the benefit of the 19p SAF increase upon receipt of the balancing payments” for April and May, it added.
This would have been “around 60 days from the conclusion of the month under the current payment timetable”, it said.
Read more: All the headlines: Community pharmacy funding deal
But under the new mechanism, “pharmacy owners will receive the benefit of the 19p SAF uplift when they receive their advance payment for April and May 2025”, CPE added.
“Timing for this will differ depending on whether pharmacies receive their advance payments under the early advance timetable or normal advance timetable,” it said, with payments made 10-12 days or 30 days after the conclusion of the month respectively.
“Good news”
Reacting to the news today, National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chair Nick Kaye said that “it is good news that the government has recognised” the body’s warning that “pharmacies face significantly increased costs in April and May”.
“Because the current settlement only slightly reduces the funding gap, we’ll be monitoring closely to see if the wider [contract] offer has a stabilising effect on the pharmacy network”, he added.
Read more: Nick Kaye: ‘The NPA isn’t in any mood to back down’
Earlier this month in an exclusive interview with C+D, Kaye said that there was “real anger” from NPA members over a lack of April cash.
Raising concerns over rising national insurance and living wage costs, he added that from April to June contractors are “in a worse place than they are now”.
“Adequate” deal?
Meanwhile, CPE yesterday asked pharmacy owners to “share their views” on the new contract ahead of its next full committee meeting taking place at the end of this month.
It requested that contractors answer poll questions including “does this funding settlement adequately address the financial pressures on your pharmacy” and “what would your message to the government be in reaction to this deal?”.
Admitting that the deal is “still not sufficient to match the continued scale of pressures facing pharmacy businesses”, it stressed that it is “keen to make sure the committee’s discussions continue to be shaped by [contractors’] views”.
Read more: Two-thirds dissatisfied with the CPCF funding deal
The survey will close at 11.59pm on Wednesday April 30, it added.
Earlier this month, a C+D snap poll found that two-thirds of respondents are dissatisfied with the funding deal.
Of the 339 votes, 42% agreed that “it’s not a good deal” and a further 24% said it was “worse than anticipated”.
