Advance payment timetable for 2026
Pharmacy owners should note that the next advance payment will be received on the 12th January 2026 (for activity completed in December 2025 and declared using the FP34C form on the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal by the 6th January).
The table below shows the advance payment dates for 2026.
| Dispensing Month | Dec 25 | Jan 26 | Feb 26 | Mar 26 | Apr 26 | May 26 | Jun 26 | Jul 26 | Aug 26 | Sep 26 | Oct 26 | Nov 26 | Dec 26 |
| Submission deadline via MYS to receive early advance payment | 6th Jan* | 5th Feb | 5th Mar | 6th Apr* | 6th May* | 5th Jun | 5th Jul | 5th Aug | 5th Sept | 5th Oct | 5th Nov | 5th Dec | 6th Jan 2027* |
| Earlier advance payment date (4 working days after submission deadline) | 12th Jan | 11th Feb | 11th Mar | 10th Apr | 12th May | 11th Jun | 9th Jul | 11th Aug | 10th Sep | 9th Oct | 11th Nov | 10th Dec | 12th Jan 2027 |
| Pay date for reconciled prescriptions | 27th Feb | 1st Apr | 1st May | 1st Jun | 1st Jul | 31st Jul | 1st Sep | 1st Oct | 30th Oct | 1st Dec | 31st Dec | 31st Jan 2027 | 27th Feb 2027 |
*Note – In months where one or more bank holiday occurs during the first five days of the month, contractors will be given an extra day to submit their FP34C and dispatch their prescription bundle to the NHSBSA. For these months, the early advance payment date will remain as four working days from the extended FP34C submission deadline of the 6th. Pharmacy owners are reminded that the requirement to submit electronic Claim Notification (CN) messages or Electronic Reimbursement Endorsement Messages (EREMs) within the first 5 days of the following month remains unchanged.
Pharmacy owners who submit their FP34C declaration through the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal by the 5th of the month (or by the 6th if one or more bank holiday occurs during the first five days of the month) will receive 100% of their advance payments four working days after the submission deadline. The 100% advance payments will continue to 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 FP34C submission.
Advance payments for certain NHS services are also received on the same date as the early Advance payment for dispensed prescriptions. The service advance payments now include the consultation fees for Flu (adult), Covid-19, Pharmacy Contraception Service (including Emergency Contraception) and Hypertension Case-Finding Service (HCFS). Reimbursement for any items supplied in connection with the Flu (adult), Pharmacy First service and Pharmacy Contraception Service are also factored into the calculation of the main drug advance payment itself. Click here for more information on the service advance payments. Please note the potential cashflow impact due to the inclusion of Flu service to the advance payments.
If the FP34C submission form and prescription bundle is received very late by the NHSBSA (usually after the 20th of each month), contractors will not receive any advance payment but instead will only receive the final reconciliation payment. Please note an administrative deduction of £25 may apply if a paper prescription bundle is submitted late to the NHSBSA.
Pharmacy owners should note that the final reconciliation payment date remains unchanged i.e. this will continue to be paid on the 1st working day of the month, approximately two months after contractors have submitted the appropriate FP34C form and prescriptions for pricing. If the first of the month falls on a bank holiday or weekend, payment is brought forward to the nearest previous working day. The only exception to this is when 1st April falls on a weekend or bank holiday, in which case payment will be made on the next available working day and not brought forward to 31st March or earlier.
The advance payment timetable is also available to view on the NHSBSA’s website. For any queries regarding monthly payments, please contact contractorpayments@nhsbsa.nhs.uk.
