Pharmacy owner views sought on recent CPCF changes and their financial resilience
Community pharmacy owners are being asked to share their views on pharmacy service developments and their financial security, ahead of the next full Community Pharmacy England Committee meeting taking place at the end of this month (25th and 26th June).
Two months after the introduction of a new CPCF funding settlement, the implementation of various service and regulatory changes is still underway, and the uplifted funding is only just beginning to flow through to pharmacies. There is still much work to be done to help ease the capacity challenges and financial pressures burdening pharmacy businesses.
Our latest opinion poll will help ensure that the Committee’s discussions continue to be shaped by pharmacy owners’ views and experiences. Your feedback this month will help the Committee review the impact that the CPCF settlement is having across the sector, and to clearly demonstrate this to Ministers and officials. We want to know how pharmacy owners are feeling about the introduction of emergency contraception, changes to enable better use of skill mix, and a new route to rearrange core opening hours.
We are also keen to hear about the current financial situation for your pharmacy business and your confidence in the Government’s commitment to developing a sustainable funding and operational model for the sector, as well as your hopes for the NHS Ten-Year Health Plan.
As ever, our standard pressures tracker will help us to continue to analyse trends in the sector over time. The tracker asks pharmacy owners to reflect on a range of persistent pressures on their businesses, from medicine market instability and increasing demand for services to inflation and utility bills. The rankings given provide a snapshot of which issues are causing the most pressure at this time.
You can directly input into the Committee’s discussions via this short poll:
June 2025 Committee Opinion Poll (for independent and non-CCA multiples only)
View a copy of the poll questions
The survey will close at 11.59pm on Sunday 22nd June 2025 to allow time for the Committee to review responses before its meeting. Please note, this survey is for community pharmacy owners only – CCA multiple branches do not need to respond, as their head offices will be contacted separately.
Alongside the poll, we are continuing our important work to engage with the sector in a variety of ways, including attending pharmacy conferences and hosting our own in-person events. A few weeks ago we launched a series of ‘Future of Pharmacy’ workshops to take place in July. These are another key opportunity for pharmacy owners (and their representatives) to discuss the impact of the 2025/26 CPCF settlement, share their views on current challenges, and help shape our priorities for the 2026/27 negotiations and beyond – find an event happening near you.
As always, your input is vital, and we hope that as many of you as possible will share your perspectives with us ahead of our upcoming meeting. The findings will be used as part of our wider influencing work to press for further improvements and support for community pharmacies.
You can see the results from the previous opinion polls in the links below:
