Negotiations, planning and governance focus at February Committee Meeting

Community Pharmacy England met last week in London, with much of the meeting devoted to the 2024/25 and 2025/26 negotiations.

During the meeting on 5th and 6th February 2025, the Committee spent a significant amount of time analysing and discussing the initial offer put to us and providing a mandate for the Negotiating Team on the key issues, priorities and red lines.

All CPE Committee Members are fully aware of the sector’s urgent need to resolve negotiations as robustly and speedily as possible, and are focused on securing the best outcomes for pharmacy owners.

In response to pressure from Community Pharmacy England during previous CPCF negotiations, NHS England commissioned an independent economic review of the sector. The review, or Economic Analysis, is intended to inform thinking about pharmacy funding and the cost of delivering the NHS service.

As agreed with NHS England, Community Pharmacy England considered draft findings of the review at this February Committee meeting, as part of the CPCF negotiations. We have submitted further comments to the report’s authors this week and the Committee will consider the final report once completed, as part of this ongoing negotiation process.

This critical work sat alongside other important discussions on Community Pharmacy England’s budget, levy and workplans for the coming financial year.

For the first time, recently appointed non-CCA multiple observers joined the meeting. As contributing observers, they participated fully in both Committee and subcommittee discussions, directly informing decision-making alongside the other three existing elected non-CCA multiple Committee members.

The Committee also considered the ongoing Pharmacy Pressures Survey and matters relating to governance and composition. LPC leaders from the East of England region attended part of the meeting to talk with Committee Members, observe subcommittee meetings and provide feedback from local pharmacy owners.

The Negotiating Process

The Negotiating Team are continuing in-depth negotiations with DHSC and NHS England.

Pharmacy owners who want to understand more about the process of negotiations can read our funding and negotiation infographics, which detail how the negotiating process works and how Community Pharmacy England works to influence pharmacy funding decisions long before entering the negotiating room.

Workplans and Budgeting

At the meeting, Committee Members assessed Community Pharmacy England’s key goals and priorities for 2025/26, which include any remaining work on the 2024/25 and 2025/26 negotiations and its communication and implementation, ongoing economic work to ensure sector sustainability, engaging in the NHS 10-year Health Plan and Government Spending Review, working to improve medicines supply issues, advancing the Primary Care Recovery Plan services, and more.

Noting the ongoing focus on cost control, and the need to invest in critical activities to assure the sustainability of the sector, the Committee approved a recommendation from its Audit and Risk Subcommittee to a 2% uplift in the levy collected from LPCs from April 2025, which is largely expected to be covered from LPC reserves.

Find out more about how we have previously invested levies and what we have achieved in two new explainers:

Community Pharmacy England’s Investment Priorities

Community Pharmacy England’s Work

Committee Composition

The Managing Director of Jardines (UK) Ltd and Superintendent Pharmacist of Pearl Chemist Group attended their first meeting as non-CCA multiple contributing observers to the Committee, joining both subcommittee and full Committee discussions.

During the meeting, the Committee, including the two observers, discussed a recommendation from the Governance and People Subcommittee on proposals to change the Committee’s composition and constitution, as well as those of the Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs). These proposals will be the starting point for a period of consultation with interested parties from across the sector, including LPCs and other sector bodies, which will begin shortly.

On the negotiations, Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy England, said:

“This is an extremely stressful and worrying time for all pharmacy owners. However, due to the Government’s strict confidentiality requirements, we are unable to say anything further about the negotiations, or to offer any running commentary, until an announcement is made.

“As with every negotiation, we are working to secure the best possible outcome for the sector and after detailed negotiations the full Committee will decide whether to accept or reject the final offer. We will announce the outcome – and our analysis of what it means – as soon as possible once negotiations conclude.”

Meeting Outputs

Outputs from February’s Committee Meeting are linked below.

Briefing 006/25: Summary of February 2025 Committee Meeting
This briefing provides more detail on the discussions the Committee had, including information from subcommittee meetings and next steps.

The Negotiating Process
This page of funding and negotiation infographics explains the negotiating process our work to influence policymaking outside of this.

Community Pharmacy England’s Investment Priorities
This briefing note sets out the key ways in which we have invested levies in recent years, and some of the outcomes for pharmacy owners.

Community Pharmacy England’s Work
This infographic provides an overview of what we have achieved, the benefits secured, and the financial savings made across all of our workstreams.

Pharmacy Pressures Survey 2025
Your survey responses will help build essential evidence, demonstrating the impact of the ongoing crisis in our sector.