The number of employee pay rises in pharmacy has risen for the first time in four years but locum rates are continuing to fall, the C+D Salary Survey 2013 has found.

Half of the 772 employee pharmacists that responded to the survey had received a pay rise in the past 12 months – up from 45 per cent last year. The figures mark an end to the steady decline in pay rises since 2010, when two-thirds of employees enjoyed an increase in their salaries.

But locum rates remained stagnant at best, found the survey, which ran from August 23 to October 15. Only 2.5 per cent of the 270 locum respondents had seen rates increase, with 73 per cent of the remaining locums reporting a fall in pay.  

Average hourly locum rates fell 4.8 per cent from £22.80 to £21.70, C+D's Salary Survey 2013 revealed, despite more than eight in 10 locums believing £25 to be the minimum fair rate	More on C+D's Salary Survey Salary calculator 2013 Working conditions' impact on patient safety under investigation Pharmacy owners have worst work-life balance, C+D finds
	Average hourly locum rates fell 4.8 per cent from £22.80 to £21.70, despite more than eight in 10 locums believing £25 to be the minimum fair rate.

Unsurprisingly, locums were least happy with their pay – two-thirds said they were dissatisfied with their salary, compared with only a third of pharmacy employees.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) said the drop in locum rates was the result of large pharmacy employers "following each other like sheep".

"Each organisation is waiting to see what the other does before it decides to follow suit. Some chains have reduced their locum rates by 30 per cent over the past two years and others have completely withdrawn travelling expenses," PDA Union general secretary John Murphy told C+D.

Locum Voice founder Lindsey Gilpin expressed little surprise at the findings, as she said some multiples had reduced locum rates "as soon as there was a hint of a downturn". "The one bright spot is that many of the independents have stuck with their locums and not made their lives more difficult with lower wages and additional demands," she told C+D.

Boots UK director of pharmacy Peter Bainbridge said the multiple continued to offer locums a "competitive salary for the current market conditions". Its employee pharmacists had received pay rises for the past five years, he added; 75 per cent of the 110 Boots employee pharmacists who responded to the C+D Salary Survey 2013 said they had recieved a pay rise in the past 12 months.

Lloydspharmacy and the Co-operative Pharmacy both declined to comment on their locum rates. Last December, Lloydspharmacy dropped its hourly rates to £19 in some parts of the country.