End of month prescription and FP34C submission process

Pharmacy owners should note that the dispensing month in which an EPS prescription is submitted and counted for payment is determined by two key dates: the EPS Dispense Notification (DN) date and the Claim Notification (CN) date. When a DN message is sent before midnight on the last day of the calendar month, the corresponding CN message or Electronic Reimbursement Endorsement Message (EREM) must be received by the NHSBSA no later than by the 5th of the following month to be counted towards the total EPS items for the actual dispensing month and to avoid any delays in payment.

If the CN message is submitted later than the 5th of the following month, the item will NOT be counted towards the actual dispensing month but will be priced according the Drug Tariff for the month in which it was submitted for payment.

Pharmacy teams are advised to submit their DN and CN messages in a timely manner because the price paid for a drug could vary from month to month for example, a price concession  may be granted for a drug in one month but not the next.  If EPS claims are not submitted regularly throughout the month but sent all together at the end of the month, there is a risk of delayed payments if a technical issue prevents the successful transmission of these claims.

It is important to note that all EPS claim messages or EREMs must be claimed soon after the final DN message has been sent but no later than 180 day (six-month) prescription claiming deadline. After 180 days, the EPS prescription expires and can no longer be priced by the NHSBSA. For more information, see our Factsheet: Claiming for EPS prescriptions on time.

Once a EPS message has been submitted for payment, it may be possible to make a change (such as amending an incorrect endorsement or adjusting the patient exemption category) after the claim message has been sent to the NHSBSA. This is subject to the following criteria:

• your PMR system supplier must have added the functionality required to recall and amend claim messages; and
• it must be before the deadline of the 5th day of the month following that in which supply was made. After this time the NHSBSA’s pricing process will begin and the prescription can no longer be recalled.

EPS token submission

The EPS tokens that are required to be sent to the NHSBSA for end-of-month submission are:

• EPS tokens used to capture the paid or exemption declaration.
• Pharmacy First-related EPS tokens, where medicines or appliances were supplied as part of the service.

The following EPS tokens are NOT required to be submitted:

• Tokens for age-exempt patients.
• Prescription tokens where only free-of-charge (FOC) items are prescribed.
• Prescription tokens where the Real Time Exemption Checking (RTEC) system confirms an exemption.

Patients can sign either the prescribing or dispensing token, only the signed one needs to be submitted. Where submitted, the EPS tokens must relate to the same dispensing month in which the associated electronic prescriptions are submitted for payment to the NHSBSA.

With the rollout of Real Time Exemption Checking (RTEC), there has been a decrease in the number of EPS tokens submitted to the NHSBSA. RTEC offers pharmacy teams an opportunity to adapt their dispensing standard operating procedures to reduce the printing of EPS tokens in the pharmacy.

Please visit our Briefing factsheet: EPS token submission for further guidance on submitting EPS tokens. 

For submission of any paper prescriptions and/or EPS tokens, the NHSBSA post out the following documents directly to pharmacies every month:

• • Paper Account Identifier Document
  • Red separators
  • Pharmacy address labels

At the end of each month, pharmacy staff are required to sort their FP10 paper prescription forms and EPS tokens into relevant exempt or paid groups (current rate and old charge rates) and use red separators to include forms with specified items for submission to the NHSBSA. Further guidance and support on sorting and submission of paper prescriptions can be found on our Sorting prescriptions for end of month submission page.

The Account Identifier Document provided by the NHSBSA must be enclosed with the paper prescription bundle. This allows NHSBSA to easily identify the pharmacy that has submitted the prescription bundle and help to speed up prescription processing. The Account Identifier Document is posted out to all contractors each month with the red separators and address labels. It is important that you include this alongside your prescription bundle before sending this to NHSBSA. If the Account Identifier Document is lost or misplaced, pharmacy owners can download and print another copy from the MYS portal. The image below shows an example of how the prescription bundle should be sorted before it is submitted for payment to the NHSBSA.

After correctly sorting the prescription bundle, it must be despatched to the relevant pricing division at the NHSBSA using a secure track and trace method and no later than the 5th day of the month following that in which supply was made as outlined in Clause 5, Part 1 of the Drug tariff.

The NHSBSA may apply an administrative charge deduction of £25 to pharmacies that submit their prescription bundles late. Community Pharmacy England’s briefing titled ‘Administrative charges for late submission of prescription forms‘ provides guidance for pharmacy teams on correct end of month submission processes and information regarding how this £25 deduction for late submissions is administered by the NHSBSA.

Please note, in months where one or more bank holiday occurs during the first five days of the month, pharmacy owners will be given an extra day to submit their FP34C and dispatch their prescription bundle to the NHSBSA i.e. dispatch and submission must be secured by the sixth of that month. In these months, the earlier advance payment date will remain as four working days from the extended submission/dispatch deadline of the 6th of the month.

The FP34C claim form on the MYS portal must be completed and submitted no later than the 5th day of the following month to secure early advance payment (which is paid 4 working days after the submission deadline). Please  note, in months where one or more bank holiday occurs during the first five days of the month, pharmacy owners will be given an extra day to complete and submit their FP34C declaration.

Those who submit their FP34C figures late will NOT receive any earlier advance payments but instead will receive advance payments in accordance with the normal payment timetable i.e on or around the 1st of the month following submission.

Completing your FP34C declaration:

• It is important your FP34C submission is completed accurately with the total number of SAFs declared in your total items figures section. The declared item totals (for EPS and paper prescriptions) are used to calculate your pharmacy’s advance payment. Inaccurate or understated item totals could have an adverse impact on the pharmacy cashflow as the advance payment may be lower than expected.

  • For EPS prescriptions – these figures should relate to the monthly total number of electronic forms (not tokens) and items that have been submitted for payment by the end of the 5th day of the month following that in which items were dispensed . Some PMR systems can generate reports showing the monthly total number of EPS forms and items to declare as part of the end of month submission. Do not count dispensing tokens when totalling EPS figures. For more information, please see our Claiming for EPS prescriptions on time factsheet.
  • For FP10 prescriptions – the figures should relate to the total number of forms and items that are physically included in the prescription bundle. To make counting of the total number of paper items easier for the FP34C declaration each month, pharmacy teams are encouraged to enter a value of the total number of SAFs in the ‘For dispenser No. of Prescriptions on form’ box in the bottom lefthand corner of the front of the FP10 paper prescription. At the end of each month, pharmacy staff involved in the end of month submission process can add up the SAFs populated in this box to calculate the total number of paper prescription items for the FP34C declaration. Please note any figures contained in the ‘For dispenser No. of Prescriptions on form’ box at the front of the FP10 form is not used by the NHSBSA for pricing. NHSBSA rely on the item figures included in the FP34C declaration to calculate the advance payment.
• Declare any referred back prescription forms and items being resubmitted in the relevant boxes (dependent on prescription type and whether it was exempt or paid) on the digital MYS submission form. Please note only the number of items returned for clarification where payment has been delayed should be declared on the digital MYS submission form. This is because payment will already have been received for any other items on the returned forms. 
• Declare the correct number of prescription charges collected (including any charged at the old rate).
• Declare the number of FP57 refunds forms and value of the refunds.
• Declare the number of New Medicine Services (NMS) carried out. For more information on NMS, click here.
• Declare the number of Appliance Use Reviews (AURs) carried out. For more information on AURs, click here.

Each month, pharmacy owners are required to declare their prescription and services activity using the MYS portal. The FP34C submission form on MYS must be completed and submitted along with any paper prescriptions and required EPS tokens to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) by the 5th of the following month (or by the 6th of the month if there is a bank holiday in the first five days of the month) in order to secure an early advance payment (received four working days after submission deadline or approximately 20 days earlier than the normal advance payment timetable which is around the 1st of the month following submission. More information on the timing of monthly payments can be found here.

The table below shows the early advance payment timetable dates for 2025.

The 100% advance payments (for early and normal timetables) will be based on the items declared on the FP34C and the latest available Average Item Value (AIV) for that pharmacy, less the value of prescription charges declared on the submission document.

No advance payment will be received for very late FP34C submissions and an administrative deduction of £25 may apply if a prescription bundle is submitted late to the NHSBSA.

The final reconciliation payment date remains unchanged i.e. this will be paid on the 1st working day of the month approximately two months after pharmacy owners have submitted the appropriate FP34C form and prescriptions for pricing.

Pharmacy owners must take extra care when completing their total figures of forms and items for exempt and paid electronic and paper prescriptions, and the combined totals, to ensure it is entered and declared correctly. The information contained within this section of the form is used by NHSBSA to calculate the monthly advance payment.

Top-tips for end of month submission:

• Double check prescription endorsements for any:
  • expensive items (it is advisable to keep a record/copy of any dispensed paper prescriptions for high value items to reconcile against the Schedule of Payments)
  • unlicensed specials/imports;
  • Broken Bulk (BB) claims; and
  • Out of pocket Expenses (OOP).
• Where required, endorse paper prescriptions clearly to the left-hand side margin of the prescription form. Avoid any marks or endorsements in the prescribing area of the form as this may affect the pricing of a prescription.
• Ensure all prescriptions have the patient exemption declaration section on the reverse of the prescription is completed.
• Endorse ‘ND’ against any item not dispensed and strike through the item with a horizontal line.
• Pharmacy stamps must not obscure the patient details, prescribed items or endorsements.
• Carefully check the number of fees claimed on FP10MDA instalment forms (see cpe.org.uk/mda to find out more).
• Ensure you submit the number of AURs and NMS carried out within the month.
• Do not submit paper prescriptions with labels, sticky notes, pins, staples, or paper clips attached as this can affect the scanning process.
• Check that EPS prescriptions do not contain any supplementary product information for e.g. a particular brand or manufacturer included as part of the dosage instructions. Supplementary product information contained in the dosage area or notes section of electronic prescriptions is not read by the NHSBSA and therefore pharmacy owners will not be reimbursed for supplying in accordance with these additional instructions. If an electronic prescription annotated with additional/supplementary product information is received by a pharmacy, it is strongly recommended to have such prescriptions appropriately rewritten/re-issued by the prescriber before claiming. Please visit our Dealing with product information within the dose area page for further information.
• Place the Account Identifier Document alongside your paper prescription bundle before sending it to NHSBSA for payment. NHSBSA uses the Account Identifier Document to easily identify which pharmacy has submitted their prescription bundle. This helps us to speed up prescription processing.
• Ensure the bundle is sent to the correct NHSBSA processing site – the correct address will be displayed on the pharmacy address labels sent by the NHSBSA or these can also be printed from MYS portal.

Q. What should I do if I am unable to submit my end of month claim via MYS?

A. Clause 5a Part 7 of the Drug Tariff  states:

‘(a) In exceptional circumstances, where the contractor through no fault of their own, is unable to submit the FP34C form through the MYS portal, contractors are advised to contact the NHSBSA either through email nhsbsa.mys@nhs.net or by contacting the MYS helpdesk number (0300 330 1368). Contractors should note that this route is available only for emergencies, which are directly related to the contractor (for example internet outage in the contractor’s area) and not related to the MYS platform itself (in case of the MYS platform being down there will be instructions for contractors on the NHSBSA’s website on what to do);
(b) Contractors, who will be using the email route, are advised that they must apply an advanced electronic signature to the email to secure payment; and
(c) Contractors, who will be using the telephone route, are advised that the NHSBSA will contact the contractor via a preferred email address for the contractor, which the contractor has shared with them during the phone call conversation, for them to confirm that the claim the NHSBSA noted via the phone call was correct, and the contractor must apply an advanced electronic signature to the confirmation email to secure payment.’

Q. I have made a transcription error and declared the wrong figures on my FP34C, how can I rectify this?

A. If a pharmacy team has declared incorrect figures on their submission form, they should contact NHSBSA help desk by either telephone (0300 330 1349) or email nhsbsa.prescriptionservices@nhsbsa.nhs.uk.