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The CPCF funding deal announced on Monday and the Government’s commitment to stabilising the pharmacy sector has been welcomed in principle by the Pharmacists’ Defence Association, but it cautions that “the reality is that any additional funding will largely be absorbed by the financial shortfalls of years of chronic underinvestment”.

The £3.073 billion baseline funding for 2025/26 and the additional £215 million for Pharmacy First and Primary Care Recovery Plan services are significant figures, but they must be viewed in context, the PDA says.

“The newly published Economic Analysis underscores the dire financial state of the sector, with 47 per cent of community pharmacies operating at a loss. The so-called ‘uplift’ will be spent plugging these gaps rather than improving conditions for the workforce or ensuring fair remuneration for those on the frontlines of patient care.”

Moreover, while measures such as the Single Activity Fee (SAF) increase to £1.46 per item and the margin allowance rise to £900 million per year might suggest financial relief, they fail to address the fundamental structural issues within community pharmacy, the PDA continues.

“These increases do not ensure that the pharmacy workforce sees any tangible benefit. Instead, they serve to mitigate the financial strain on business owners and help manage operational costs.”

The workforce, those who bear the brunt of service delivery, has once again been sidelined in negotiations, with contractual discussions taking place without their input, argues the PDA.

 “This continued exclusion of frontline voices raises serious concerns about the viability and fairness of the new funding settlement,” says the PDA. “A glaring omission from this settlement is any concrete assurance that additional funding will translate into better pay, working conditions, or career progression for pharmacists and their teams.

“Pharmacists are consistently asked to do more with less as service delivery frameworks expand without adequate staffing or resources. This funding deal introduces expansions to the New Medicine Service (NMS) and the Contraception Service while offering little direct investment in the professionals expected to implement these additional responsibilities.”

It is also troubling, says the PDA, that regulatory changes such as those concerning Distance Selling Pharmacies (DSPs) and opening hours, were negotiated without transparent engagement with those working within the sector.

“This lack of consultation reinforces a pattern in which policymakers and negotiators make decisions with limited firsthand experience of the daily challenges pharmacists and their teams face.”