Pharmacy supervision legislation to come into force in 2026
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that The Human Medicines (Authorisation by Pharmacists and Supervision by Pharmacy Technicians) Order 2025 has been approved by Parliament and the Privy Council, and will come into force in two stages.
The order makes changes to The Medicines Act 1968 and The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to enable pharmacists to deliver more patient-facing clinical services and empower pharmacy technicians to utilise their skills and expertise to the best of their ability.
The following table summarises when the measures will come into force.
| Date comes into force | Activity |
| 7 January 2026 | Pharmacists can authorise pharmacy teams to hand out checked and bagged prescriptions (Human Medicines Regulation 2012, Regulation 220B) |
| 10 December 2026 | Pharmacists can authorise pharmacy technicians to undertake or supervise the preparation, assembly, dispensing and sale and supply of medicines, that would otherwise need to be performed by or under the supervision of a pharmacist (Medicines Act 1968, Section 10 and 10A and Human Medicines Regulations 2012, Regulation 220A) |
The Order allows a one-year transition period for the authorisation of pharmacy technicians to undertake or supervise the preparation, assembly, dispensing and sale/supply. This is to allow time for the GPhC and the RPS to develop and publish supporting professional standards and guidance.
The GPhC has announced that a public consultation on the proposed standards and rules for this change will commence shortly. We will update the sector once this consultation is published.
The RPS has published it’s guidance on Authorisation by Pharmacist – Checked and Bagged
Our response to the draft legislation can be found HERE.
Additional note – 23 December 2025 – to confirm, the change coming into force on 7 January 2026 may be used by/is applicable to NHS community pharmacies, without any change to the Terms of Service (The NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013). This has been confirmed with the Department of Health and Social Care.
