Contractors in England who dispense at least 101 monthly items will start to receive a flat fee of £533 from next month as part of an agreement reached by the PSNC and the government on years four and five of the community pharmacy contractual framework.

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England said the monthly fee equates to an annual total of £70 million across the country although they cautioned it will be reduced “if clinical service volumes grow beyond our forecasts and all unallocated funding is spent on new services.” The terms were agreed in September last year, with the payment to be introduced in April’s drug tariff.

“As with all payments, the flat fee payments are subject to change throughout the year depending on the overall level of funding delivery to community pharmacies,” the PSNC said.

It insisted it will carefully monitor the payments alongside the DHSC and promised that any changes in funding will be communicated to pharmacy contractors “as soon as they are known.”