The “business rates disparity” faced by pharmacies will be discussed in upcoming contract negotiations, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has confirmed.
CPE chief executive Janet Morrison told C+D that the negotiator’s “top priority” in upcoming CPCF talks is “a plan to close the funding gap, with proper indexation for activity and inflation”.
She said it “will be bringing all relevant topics and evidence, including the business rates disparity, to those discussions”.
Read more: ‘Real economic peril’, CPE warns Kinnock in ‘uncompromising’ letter
And she added that “unlike GP practices and dental surgeries, the business rates that community pharmacies pay are not reimbursed by the NHS”.
“We want to see this unfair disparity ended, with pharmacies either having their costs fully covered, or given the same rates relief as other healthcare providers,” she said.
It comes after the government this week announced a “a major support package” that will see pubs receive a 15% cut to new business rates bills from April.
Read more: ‘Immediate’ action called for as negotiation delays continue
Earlier this month, Liberal Democrat MP Zöe Franklin asked minister Stephen Kinnock whether the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) “will extend business rates reimbursements to community pharmacies”.
Kinnock responded on January 26 that the DH will consult CPE on “any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration” of pharmacy owners for 2026/27 “shortly”.
The DH did not respond to C+D’s request for comment on when exactly contract negotiations will begin.
“An insult”
Meanwhile, National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Henry Gregg said it is “simply outrageous” that the government has offered business rate relief to pubs but not pharmacies.
“Pharmacies are essential to their communities, but the government has taken a decision today to prioritise pubs over the health needs of millions of people who use pharmacies every day,” he added.
Read more: Include pharmacies in business rates relief, urges NPA
He said it is “an insult to hard pressed pharmacists who are still struggling under the effects of historic NHS underfunding” that “isn’t sufficient to pay inflated business rates, medicine prices and their other bills”.
“Denying pharmacies the business rate support that is available to GPs and other parts of the NHS is yet another example of them being treated as second class citizens in our health service.”
“Left behind”
Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) chief executive and executive chair CEO Dr Leyla Hannbeck said community pharmacies nationwide “have been completely left behind” and “remain in a dire state, with no relief at all offered from the upcoming business rates hike”.
“Burdens on high street businesses like higher employers’ national insurance contributions have already forced 650 pharmacies to close in the past year alone, with many more on the brink,” she added.
Read more: ‘Appalling’: NPA slams ‘bombshell’ £158m NHS clawback
“Over 95% of community pharmacy activities are NHS activities, and pharmacies should be treated the same way as our GP colleagues.”
Hannbeck stressed that the upcoming funding settlement “is a critical moment for the government to act” - and that “if ministers are serious about protecting patient access to medicines and care, they must urgently step up and properly fund” pharmacies.
Read more: Pharmacies could be owed £2m a day over Covid chaos, says NPA
It comes as the IPA has issued a statement threatening to explore legal routes over “unsatisfactory funding” of the community pharmacy sector.
The body warned that if the government does not approach contract negotiations “with the seriousness and responsibility shown by others”, it will “have no option but to explore all available avenues to address this situation, including legal routes if necessary”.
And it follows CPE writing an “uncompromising letter” to Kinnock demanding that the government “deliver rapid progress towards sustainability” in upcoming contract negotiations, including the start of a “credible, long-term recovery plan”.
