Pharmacy Quality Scheme

Associated webpages

• NHSBSA Drug Tariff update for PQS
• Community Pharmacy England – PQS FAQs
• Community Pharmacy England – Manage Your Service (MYS) portal page – Includes FAQs on MYS
• CPPE – PQS webpage
• NHSBSA – Manage Your Service (MYS)
• NHSBSA – Manage Your Service (MYS) portal
• NHSBSA – Pharmacy Quality Scheme

Resources

• Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 – Important dates for the diary– this provides a list of the important dates for the 2026/27 PQS.
• Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 checklist – a checklist of the gateway criterion and quality criteria for the 2026/27 PQS.
• Action plan template 2026/27 (PDF)– to support the creation of an action plan required to meet the requirements of the PQS criteria.
• Action plan template 2026/27 (Word)
• Training record sheet 2026/27 (PDF) – a template which can be used to record details of those staff members who have satisfactorily completed the required training and associated assessment.
• Training record sheet 2026/27 (Word)
• Community Pharmacy England PQS 2026/27 Action and Evidence Portfolio Workbook – this contains questions (based on what pharmacy owners are required to declare) for pharmacy teams to answer to see if they are meeting the requirements of the gateway/domains. The Workbook also provides pharmacy owners with examples of suggested evidence that they can use to confirm they have the necessary evidence required by the end of 31st March 2027.
• Briefing on the Urgent supply of medicines and appliances strand of Pharmacy First – this briefing provides detailed information on the Urgent supply of medicines and appliances strand of Pharmacy First and includes information on medicines liable to misuse and Controlled Drugs. It may be a helpful reference for updating SOPs.

There are three parts to the gateway criterion that must be met:

a) PEoLC questionnaire

b) Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder

c) PEoLC action plan

To qualify for the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2026/27 payment, pharmacy owners must meet all three parts of the gateway criterion. Further details on the three parts can be found below.

Gateway criterion a) PEoLC questionnaire

Pharmacy owners must complete the questionnaire to evaluate the value of the Palliative and End of Life Care criterion. The questionnaire will be accessible from the NHSBSA website from August 2026 and must be submitted by the end of 31st December 2026 to meet the gateway criterion.

Pharmacy owners who successfully complete their questionnaire submission will receive a confirmation email as evidence that their submission has been successful. This email must be provided if a pharmacy owner needs to demonstrate that they have successfully completed their questionnaire submission. Should a pharmacy owner not receive this questionnaire confirmation email within one hour of submitting this then; after first checking their junk email folder, they should email the provider assurance team at pharmacysupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk immediately to make them aware of the issue.

No patient identifiable data should be entered into the questionnaire.

Pharmacy owners should note that they will not be able to claim payment for the quality criteria during the declaration period if the questionnaire has not been completed by 31st December 2026, as the gateway criterion will not have been met.

Gateway criterion b) Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder

As soon as possible after 2nd June 2026 and by the end of 31st March 2027, the pharmacy owner must have updated NHS Profile Manager to show they are a ‘Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder’ if they routinely hold the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines listed below and can support local access to parenteral haloperidol. If NHS Profile Manager is updated centrally by head office, it will need to be confirmed that this will be done by the end of 31st March 2027. Pharmacy owners who claimed for the Medicines Optimisation domain in 2025/26 must ensure their status is correct and updated for 2026/27 by logging into NHS Profile Manager and confirming this between 2nd June 2026 and by the end of 31st March 2027 by verifying their account. If this verification has not been completed, a pharmacy owner will not have met this requirement even if their profile is still showing them as a stockholder.

Pharmacy owners with profiles that cannot currently be updated via NHS Profile Manager may still meet this criterion and update the Directory of Services (DoS) profile by contacting their Regional DoS lead.

If pharmacy owners are not a stockholder of these 16 palliative and end-of-life critical medicines, they are not required to update NHS Profile Manager.

The 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines are:

• Cyclizine solution for injection ampoules 50mg/1ml
• Cyclizine tablets 50mg
• Dexamethasone solution for injection ampoules 3.3mg/1ml
• Dexamethasone tablets 2mg
• Haloperidol tablets 500mcg (or 1.5mg tablets or 5mg/5ml liquid)
• Hyoscine butylbromide solution for injection 20mg/1ml
• Levomepromazine solution for injection ampoules 25mg/1ml
• Metoclopramide solution for injection ampoules 10mg/2ml
• Midazolam solution for injection ampoules 10mg/2ml
• Morphine sulfate oral solution 10mg/5ml
• Morphine sulfate solution for injection ampoules 10mg/1ml
• Morphine sulfate solution for injection ampoules 30mg/1ml
• Oxycodone solution for injection ampoules 10mg/1ml
• Oxycodone oral solution sugar free 5mg/5ml
• Sodium chloride 0.9% solution for injection ampoules 10ml
• Water for injections 10ml

Resources
Palliative and end of life care criterion in the 2026/27 PQS – information for external stakeholders

Declaration requirements

When making a declaration for this part of the gateway criterion, the following information must be reported on the MYS application:

• Confirm if the pharmacy does or does not stock the 16 palliative and end of life critical; and
• If the pharmacy does stock the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines, a declaration that by the end of 31st March 2027, they must have updated their DoS status via NHS Profile Manager to show they are a ‘Pharmacy palliative care medication ‘stockholder’.

Gateway criterion c) PEoLC action plan

By the end of 31st March 2027, pharmacy owners must have an action plan in place to use when they do not have the required stock of the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines and/or parenteral haloperidol available for a patient. This must include collated information from pharmacies in their area to be able to aid a patient, relative/carer in obtaining medication as swiftly as possible by redirecting them to the nearest open community pharmacy that stocks the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines and/or parenteral haloperidol.

To meet the gateway criterion, all pharmacy owners must have this action plan irrespective of whether they do or do not routinely stock the 16 palliative and end-of-life critical medicines listed above.

The action plan must include:

• An awareness of any locally commissioned services for palliative care including any on call and delivery arrangements;
• A list of community pharmacies stocking the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines for palliative/end of life care in their area and noting the ability to check the DoS to find pharmacies stocking these medicines;
• Details of where parenteral haloperidol can be accessed locally, e.g. through any local commissioning arrangements; and
• Awareness of other support services that may be useful for patients/relatives/carers.

The action plan for 2026/27 must be available for inspection from the end of 31st March 2027 at premises level and must be retained for 3 years for PPV purposes.

Resources

• Action plan template 2026/27 (PDF) – to support the creation of an action plan required to meet the requirements of the PQS criteria.
• Action plan template 2026/27 (Word)

Declaration requirements

When making a declaration for this part of the gateway criterion, the following information must be reported on the MYS application:

• A declaration that by the end of 31st March 2027, the pharmacy will have a new or updated action plan in place on the premises, available for inspection, with collated information from pharmacies in their local area to be able to aid a patient, relative/carer in obtaining medication as swiftly as possible by redirecting them to the nearest open community pharmacy that stocks the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines and/or parenteral haloperidol.

Pharmacy owners and pharmacy team members should note that there is a requirement in the 2026/27 Scheme that may mean that staff are required to repeat training and an e-assessment that they have completed previously, depending on the stated validity period and when staff completed the training and e-assessment.

New staff or staff returning from long term leave

All training and e-assessments must have been successfully completed by the end of 31st March 2027. However, in relation to training requirements where new staff who have recently joined the pharmacy or staff returning from long term leave, for example maternity leave, have not undertaken the training and assessment by the end of 31st March 2027 the pharmacy owner can count them as having completed the training and assessment, if the pharmacy owner has a training plan in place to ensure that these staff complete the training and assessment within 30 days of the day of the declaration or by the end of 31st March 2027, whichever is the later. This training plan and demonstrable evidence of completion of training and assessment must be retained at the pharmacy to demonstrate that the pharmacy owner has met this criterion.

Evidence of meeting the training criteria

By the end of 31st March 2027, the pharmacy owner must have for each staff member, excluding those staff for whom there is a training plan in place as described above, at premises level, an electronic copy of the personalised certificate (stored and accessible digitally) provided upon completion of the training and assessment (where applicable), as evidence that all relevant members of staff have completed the training.

This evidence must be retained for three years for post-payment verification purposes.

There are two quality criteria in Domain 1 – Medicines optimisation & patient safety. Both quality criteria need to be met to be eligible to claim payment for the domain. The quality criteria are:

a) Respiratory, asthma guidelines; and
b) Safe Management of urgent repeat medicines supply requests and referrals.

Further details on the quality criteria in Domain 1 – Medicines optimisation & patient safety can be found below.

Quality criterion a) Respiratory, asthma guidelines

By the end of 31st March 2027, all pharmacists working at the pharmacy on the day of the declaration must have completed EITHER the CPPE Asthma for Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 e-learning programme OR unit 4 of the CPPE Fundamentals of respiratory therapeutics e-learning since 19th February 2025 (when the e-learning was updated in line with the new clinical guideline) AND passed the Asthma e-assessment (between 19th February 2025 and 31st March 2027) to update their knowledge in line with the new BTS/NICE/SIGN Joint Guideline on Asthma.

Pharmacy owners will need to have evidence to demonstrate that all pharmacists working at the pharmacy on the day of the declaration have satisfactorily completed EITHER of the above e-learning AND have passed the Asthma e-assessment. This evidence must be available for inspection from the end of 31st March 2027 at premises level and must be retained for 3 years for PPV purposes.

Resources

• Training record sheet 2026/27 (PDF) – a template which can be used to record details of those staff members who have satisfactorily completed the required training and associated e-assessment.
• Training record sheet 2026/27 (Word)

Declaration requirements

When making a declaration for this criterion, the following information must be reported on the MYS application:

• The total number of pharmacists working at the pharmacy on the day of the declaration who have satisfactorily completed EITHER the CPPE Asthma for Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 e-learning programme OR unit 4 of the CPPE Fundamentals of respiratory therapeutics e-learning since 19th February 2025 AND passed the Asthma e-assessment (between 19th February 2025 and 31st March 2027).
• The total number of pharmacists working at the pharmacy on the day of the declaration who have not satisfactorily completed EITHER the CPPE Asthma for Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 e-learning programme OR unit 4 of the CPPE Fundamentals of respiratory therapeutics e-learning since 19th February 2025 AND passed the Asthma e-assessment (between 19th February 2025 and 31st March 2027) but who will undertake this requirement by the end of 31st March 2027.
• That the pharmacy owner has the evidence to demonstrate that all pharmacists have EITHER completed the CPPE Asthma for Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026 /27 e-learning programme OR unit 4 of the CPPE Fundamentals of respiratory therapeutics e-learning since 19th February 2025 AND passed the Asthma e-assessment (between 19th February 2025 and 31st March 2027) or that they will have this evidence by the end of 31st March 2027.

Quality criterion b) Safe Management of urgent repeat medicines supply requests and referrals

Following the ‘Charlie Marriage: Prevention of Future Deaths Report’ and following feedback from Controlled Drug Accountable Officers (CDAOs) on the inappropriate supply of controlled drugs, this criterion focuses on the safe management of urgent repeat medicines supply requests.

Pharmacy owners must ensure they have appropriate procedures to follow if the pharmacy is unable to respond to requests and/or referrals for urgent supplies of time critical medicines and with specific guidance about the supply of Controlled Drugs in line with regulations.

By the end of 31st March 2027, pharmacy owners must have updated all relevant standard operating procedures (SOPs) to include specific guidance to follow in the event they are unable to respond to requests and/or referrals for urgent supplies of medicines. The updated SOPs must contain guidance on:

• How urgent requests for time-critical medicines are dealt with; and
• How urgent requests for Controlled Drugs are managed in line with regulations.

Pharmacy owners must ensure that all pharmacy staff are familiar with the updated SOPs. The SOPs for 2026/27 must be available for inspection from 31st March 2027 at premises level and must be retained for 3 years for PPV purposes.

Resources
Briefing on the Urgent supply of medicines and appliances strand of Pharmacy First – this briefing provides detailed information on the Urgent supply of medicines and appliances strand of Pharmacy First and includes information on medicines liable to misuse and Controlled Drugs. It may be a helpful reference for updating SOPs.

Declaration requirements

When making a declaration for this criterion, the following information must be reported on the MYS application:

• Pharmacy owners must declare that by the end of 31st March 2027, the pharmacy will have new or updated SOPs in place on the premises, available for inspection, which includes guidance to staff on how urgent requests for time critical medicines are dealt with, and how urgent requests for Controlled Drugs are managed in line with regulations.

There is one quality criterion in Domain 2 – Professional practice. This quality criterion needs to be met to be eligible to claim payment for the domain. The quality criterion is Clinical services audit.

Further details on the quality criterion can be found below.

Clinical services audit

Pharmacy owners must complete a clinical audit, which will be on the quality of Pharmacy First clinical pathways consultations to develop an action plan for improving practice. In addition to a pharmacist completing the audit, pharmacy owners will be expected to ensure the pharmacist completes a peer discussion (approximately 1 to 2 hours) focused on reviewing the findings of the audit and the action plan, with a ‘buddy’ pharmacist.

The audit must be carried out with a minimum of 10 patients. Pharmacy owners should make a record of the start and end date of the audit as they will be required to enter this information into the MYS application when they make their declaration. Pharmacy owners should choose a period in 2026/27 that achieves the minimum number of patients with sufficient time to complete the audit and peer discussion and their declaration from 1st February 2027.

Pharmacy owners must complete the audit, action plan and peer discussion no later than 31st March 2027.

Further details of the 2026/27 clinical audit will be published and reported on the MYS data collection tool, which will be accessible from the NHSBSA website from August 2026.

The pharmacy must have completed the audit, sharing their anonymised data with NHS England, and incorporating any learnings from the audit into future practice by the end of 31st March 2027.

Completing the audit data submission is an essential requirement for meeting the audit criterion. Undertaking the audit without submitting the data will mean the pharmacy owner will not have met the requirements of this domain. MYS allows a pharmacy owner to start their data collection and then return to it later should this be necessary. Where a data collection has been started but not submitted, it will not be eligible for payment.

Pharmacy owners who successfully complete their data collection submission will receive a data collection submission confirmation email as evidence that their submission has been successful. This email must be provided if a pharmacy owner needs to demonstrate that they have successfully completed their data collection submission. Should a pharmacy owner not receive this data submission confirmation email within one hour of submitting their declaration then, after first checking their junk email folder, they should email the provider assurance team at pharmacysupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk immediately to make them aware of the issue.

No patient identifiable data should be entered onto the MYS data collection tool.

Optional CPPE learning on reflective practice

CPPE has optional learning that pharmacists can choose to undertake if they want support in improving how to reflect on their clinical practice – completion of these CPPE programmes is not a PQS requirement:

▪ CPPE Reflection e-learning
▪ CPPE Reflective practice online workshop

Declaration requirements

When making a declaration for this criterion, the following must be confirmed on the MYS application:

• A declaration that by the end of 31st March 2027 the pharmacy owner will have completed the clinical audit;
• The start and end date of the audit period (which may be different from the date data are first entered on the MYS data collection tool);
• A declaration that by the end of 31st March 2027 the pharmacy owner will have shared their anonymised data or have declared that no patients have been identified as being suitable for audit via the data collection tool on the MYS application;
• That the pharmacy owner has completed a peer discussion and incorporated learning into their professional practice by end of 31st March 2027;
• That the pharmacy owner has or will have incorporated any learnings from the audit into their action plan to inform future practice by the end of 31st March 2027.

For the 2026/27 PQS, £20 million funding is available and pharmacy owners will be able to claim an Aspiration payment if they wish to; please see below.

Pharmacy owners must claim payment for the PQS 2026/27 quality domains during the declaration period which is between 9am on 1st February 2027 and 11.59pm on 26th February 2027. Pharmacy owners must have evidence to demonstrate meeting the gateway criterion* and the domains that they have claimed for by the end of 31st March 2027.

*Pharmacy owners who opened or had a change of ownership from 1st January 2027 resulting in a new ODS code will not be eligible for the gateway criterion and will not qualify for payment for PQS 2026/27.

Pharmacy owners will need to make a declaration to the NHSBSA using the MYS application. Completing the declaration is an essential requirement for meeting the scheme requirements. Undertaking some or all the scheme requirements without submitting the final declaration will not enable a payment to be made. MYS allows a pharmacy owner to start their declaration and then return to it later should this be necessary.

Where a declaration has been started but not submitted, it will not be eligible for payment. Pharmacy owners are advised to take care in completing their declaration, and to review their answers before submitting. Declarations cannot be reopened, reset or amended once submission has been made. Pharmacy owners who successfully complete their declaration will receive a declaration confirmation email as evidence that their declaration has been successful. This email must be provided if a pharmacy owner needs to demonstrate that they have successfully completed their declaration. Should a pharmacy owner not receive this declaration confirmation email within one hour of submitting their declaration then, after checking their junk email folder, they should email the provider assurance team at pharmacysupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk immediately to make them aware of the issue.

The domains have a designated maximum number of points dependent on the participating pharmacy owner’s total prescription volume during the period from February 2025 to January 2026 */**/***/**** according to the NHSBSA’s payment data as shown in the table below.

* Pharmacy owners who opened part way through this period, will have their total prescription volume determined as the average number of prescriptions dispensed per month during the full months they were open from February 2025 to January 2026 multiplied by 12. Please note that change in ownership for the purpose of the PQS banding only is not treated as a new pharmacy owner.

** Pharmacy owners who opened after 1st February 2026 will be placed in band 2 for PQS 2026/27. Please note that change in ownership for the purpose of the PQS banding only is not treated as a new pharmacy owner.

*** Pharmacy owners who are eligible for the Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS), are automatically placed in band 2.

**** Where two pharmacies have consolidated, in accordance with Regulation 26A, since 1st February 2025, the total prescription volume of the continuing pharmacy will be determined as the item volume for the continuing pharmacy only. The item volume for the closing pharmacy will not be attributed to the continuing pharmacy. This is not the same as a change in ownership situation.

Maximum number of points per domain

The total funding for PQS 2026/27 is £20 million. The funding will be divided between qualifying pharmacies based on the number of points they have achieved up to a maximum £128.40 per point. Each point will have a minimum value of £64.20, based on all pharmacy owners achieving maximum points. Payments will be made to eligible pharmacy owners depending on the band they are placed in, how many domains they have declared they are meeting, and hence points claimed.

For example:

Assuming the number of pharmacy owners in each band and the average number of points achieved by each pharmacy owner is as set out in the table below, we can calculate how many points in total were delivered and therefore the value of each point:

The total number of points is 149,590 which means £20 million would deliver a value per point of £133.70.

However, each point is capped at a total of £128.40. So, the pharmacy owner would receive £128.40 per point they earned. This would mean that around £0.8 million (out of the £20 million) would remain undelivered through the PQS and would be taken into account in the delivery of the overall Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework funding agreement.

Validity of claims

NHS England has a duty to be assured that where pharmacy owners choose to take part in the PQS that they meet the requirements of the scheme and earn the payments claimed. NHS England will work with the NHSBSA Provider Assurance Team to undertake verification checks on all declarations. The verification checks include comparing the information provided by pharmacy owners in their declarations against the datasets and evidence sources available, as well as evidence held by the pharmacy to demonstrate meeting the scheme requirements.

When pharmacy owners make their submission for the PQS 2026/27, they are making a declaration that they have met the gateway criteria and will meet the quality criteria in each of the domains they are claiming for by the end of 31st March 2027. It is the pharmacy owner’s responsibility to be able to provide evidence of meeting the scheme requirements and this may be required by the NHSBSA for post-payment verification.

Pharmacy owners experiencing any difficulty with collating evidence of meeting the scheme requirements or making the declarations for the PQS 2026/27 can contact the NHSBSA Provider Assurance Team at pharmacysupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk to make them aware of these difficulties at the time the difficulties occur.

In cases where NHS England consider that a claim has been made for a PQS payment for which the pharmacy owner is not eligible, it will be treated as an overpayment. In such cases, pharmacy owners will be contacted by the NHSBSA and notified of the overpayment recovery process. Any overpayment recovery would not prejudice any action that NHS England may also seek to take under the performance related sanctions and market exit powers within The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013.

Aspiration payment

Pharmacy owners will be able to claim an aspiration payment. The aspiration payment is optional for pharmacy owners and not claiming it will not impact on the pharmacy owner’s ability to claim payment for PQS 2026/27.

Pharmacy owners will need to make a declaration to the NHSBSA using MYS and indicate which domains they intend to achieve before the end of the declaration period. The aspiration payment must be claimed between 9am on 13th July 2026 to 11.59pm on 28th July 2026 for pharmacy owners to receive payment on 1st September 2026.

Completing the declaration within the declaration window is essential to receive an aspiration  payment. MYS allows a pharmacy owner to start their declaration and then return to it later should this be necessary. Where a declaration has been started but not submitted, it will not be eligible for payment. Pharmacy owners are advised to take care in completing their declaration, and to review their answers before submitting. Declarations cannot be reopened, reset or amended once submission has been made. Pharmacy owner who successfully complete their declaration will receive a declaration confirmation email as evidence that their declaration has been successful. This email must be provided if a pharmacy owner needs to demonstrate that they have successfully completed their declaration. Should a pharmacy owner not receive this declaration confirmation email within one hour of submitting their declaration then, after checking their junk email folder, they should email the provider assurance team at pharmacysupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk immediately to make them aware of the issue.

The maximum number of points for which a pharmacy owner can be paid an aspiration payment is 80% of the number of points available. The value of each point for the aspiration payment is set at £64.20 (i.e. the minimum value of a point for PQS 2026/27).

The aspiration payment will be reconciled with the payment for the PQS 2026/27 on 1st April 2027. Where there is a change of ownership during the course of 2026/27 and the previous pharmacy owner received an aspiration payment and does not make a declaration between 9am on 1st February 2027 and 11.59pm on 26th February 2027, this aspiration payment will be recovered from the previous pharmacy owner. A new pharmacy owner cannot rely upon the PQS activities conducted by a previous pharmacy owner for PQS payment where a change of ownership has occurred resulting in a new ODS code being issued for the pharmacy owner.

For example:

The pharmacy’s prescription volume in the period from February 2025 to January 2026 would put them in Band 2 for 2026/27 PQS. They intend to achieve 30 points in 2026/27 (i.e. the maximum available for Band 2). They receive an aspiration payment of £1,540.80 (i.e. 80% of 30 points is 24, and 24 multiplied by £64.20 is £1,540.80). The pharmacy achieves the 30 points as intended. In addition, the points delivered by all pharmacy owners mean the value of a point is set at £75. In the reconciliation payment the pharmacy owner receives £709.20.

The PQS declaration (making a claim)

To receive a PQS payment, the pharmacy owner must have met all parts of the gateway criterion. The pharmacy owner must also declare between 9am on 1st February 2027 and 11.59pm on 26th February 2027 as having met and having evidence demonstrating meeting one or more of the domains (please note, pharmacy owners must meet all the quality criteria in each domain to be eligible for a PQS payment in respect of that domain).

No PQS payment will be made to pharmacy owners that fail to submit their declaration by 11.59pm on 26th February 2027, even if they have evidence to demonstrate that they have undertaken the work to meet the scheme requirements. The overall level of the PQS payment will depend on how many of the domains the pharmacy owner declares it has met.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs) are available on our PQS FAQs page.

Outcomes of the previous Schemes can be found on our PQS outcomes page.

Further information on post-payment verification of the PQS can be found on our Post-payment verification process for community pharmacy services and activity page.

Details about the previous Schemes can be found on our PQS – Archive page.