New application route to rearrange core opening hours

Today, the new application route for rearranging core opening hours came into force. This follows on from the laying of the relevant regulations in Parliament on 2 June, see our announcement.

The new application route

The new application route – which is available in addition to the pre-existing route – has a single regulatory test. When deciding an application for rearranging core opening hours, the ICB must:

‘… seek to ensure that the people who are accustomed to accessing pharmaceutical services at the pharmacy premises are likely to benefit from the changes because, overall, they would be more likely to access those services at those premises during the proposed core opening hours than during the existing core opening hours.’ (26(2ZB))

The new application route considers the needs of people who are accustomed to accessing pharmacy services at the applicant’s pharmacy, rather than, as in the existing application route, the needs of people (and the opening of other pharmacies) in the wider area around the pharmacy.

Applicants seeking to rearrange their core opening hours must state which application route they are relying on, the new one (para 26(2ZB)) or the existing one (para 24(1)).

More information about the new and existing application routes can be found in our Briefing 013/25: Regulatory Changes in June 2025 – DSPs, Opening Hours, etc.

Business needs

As part of the national negotiations, it was also agreed that for both new and existing applications, ICBs would be required:

• to take into consideration the business needs of the pharmacy, as part of the decision-making process on opening hours applications, where these have been cited by the applicant pharmacy owner.

The Pharmacy Manual (Chapter 36) will be amended to reflect these changes, and in the meantime, NHS England has confirmed, from today (23 June), ICBs should apply this.

Applications forms

The new application for rearranging core opening hours is available here, it will be available on the NHS website in due course.