Negotiating body Community Pharmacy Scotland has secured a six per cent funding uplift for the sector in a “long-awaited” 2024-25 funding package, taking the global sum to £232.67m. 

CPS announced on Friday September 27 that it had accepted the Scottish Government’s offer of a deal including a £13.2m increase to the global sum, with the guaranteed minimum for Drug Tariff reimbursement set at £110m - £10m higher than in 2023-24.

The funding package is backdated to the start of April, and CPS said it would “aim to get this money to the network as soon as possible” by circulating it through regular payment schedules, with additional details on the distribution to be made clear “in due course”.

Describing itself as having “held its ground” during negotiations, CPS said the deal would relieve some of the pressures linked to rising business costs but acknowledged that it will “not support significant service development this year,” commenting that it hopes future talks with government will focus on “how this can be achieved to support the wider NHS”.

The negotiator added: “This deal has been long awaited, and it has taken considerable effort on both sides of the negotiating table to reach a mutually acceptable solution.

“The CPS board was determined to land a deal which provides adequate conditions for stability in the network, regardless of the Scottish Government’s current financial position.

“We will continue to work on the financial detail for both this year and next to ensure the continued delivery of a secure financial model for the community pharmacy network across Scotland.”

In a video update, CPS chief executive Matt Barclay said the £10m Drug Tariff increase would take the sector’s “safety net” to a higher level that better matches “where we think risk should be shared,” adding that the negotiator expects funding increases to begin to be rolled out in the October schedules.

Mr Barclay said work is ongoing to address rising demand for Pharmacy First and Pharmacy First Plus, commenting “we need new ways of getting into the money into the system”.

The announcement of a global sum uplift follows a warning to contractors from CPS in August, when it said the Scottish Government was “tightening the purse strings” and that the negotiator was “prepared to walk away” from talks if a progressive deal was not forthcoming.

Earlier this month, Community Pharmacy Wales announced that it had secured a similar six per cent funding uplift to bring the sector in line with rising pay scales for Welsh doctors and dentists.

Community Pharmacy England has indicated that funding talks are “expected to recommence soon”.