The financial secretary to the Treasury Lord Livermore insisted the government will “shortly confirm funding” for pharmacy during a debate in the Lords yesterday, a suggestion that has raised some eyebrows within the sector given there is no news on when Labour will start talks on the 2024-25 contract.

Lord Livermore delivered his comments during a debate on the National Insurance Contributions Bill which, if passed into law, will increase the rate employers pay in contributions from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent on a worker's earnings above £175 from April. The threshold employers start paying the tax on each employee’s salary will also be reduced from £9,100 a year to £5,000.

Last year, national pharmacy bodies warned the hikes to NI and national living wage will cost community pharmacies £200 million a year in unplanned costs.

In an apparent attempt to alleviate pharmacy’s concerns, Lord Livermore said he aware of the Bill’s potential impact on pharmacists as well as GPs and dentists.

“Every year, the Government consult with each sector about both what services they provide and the money that providers are entitled to in return under their contracts,” he said.

"As in previous years, this issue will be dealt with as part of that process. The Department of Health and Social Care will shortly confirm funding for GPs, dentistry and pharmacy.”

His remarks come as a surprise given the lack of information coming from Labour about when 2024-25 funding will be finalised.

Renewing his criticism of the government’s NI plans, the Company Chemists’ Association chief executive Malcolm Harrison said: “The decision to increase employers' national insurance contributions is a short-sighted one. Pharmacies will be forced to stomach the additional costs on top of the 40 per cent real-terms cut in funding they have already been subject to since 2015.”

He urged the government to exempt pharmacies from paying NI or improve funding “to account for the increase in costs of providing NHS care arising from this decision.”

Harrison also said it was “concerning that negotiations on the 2024-25 community pharmacy framework continue to experience delays, especially as we're not far from the end of the financial year.”

“Pharmacies urgently need an uplift in funding if patient access to medicines is to be protected, and further pharmacy closures halted,” he said.