Pharmacy Quality Scheme – FAQs
Published on: 23rd July 2019 | Updated on: 29th April 2025
This page contains Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2025/26.
Click on a heading below for more information
Q. Do I have to participate in the PQS?
No. The scheme is voluntary – pharmacy owners do not need to engage with it.
Q. Are distance selling pharmacies eligible to take part in the PQS?
Yes.
Q. Are pharmacies that qualify for the Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS) eligible to take part in the PQS?
Yes.
Q. How much funding has been allocated to the PQS 2025/26?
The PQS for 2025/26 has funding of £30 million.
Q. Has NHS England published guidance on the PQS 2025/26?
No, NHS England will not be publishing PQS guidance for pharmacy owners for the 2025/26 Scheme.
Q. Is it possible to complete the PQS declaration as a bulk submission for multiple pharmacies?
No. PQS declarations must be submitted as an individual pharmacy submission. There is no facility to submit a bulk declaration on behalf of multiple pharmacies.
FAQs on the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal can be found on our MYS webpage.
Q. How do I claim the Aspiration payment?
Pharmacy owners can claim for an Aspiration payment on the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Manage Your Service (MYS) portal between 9am on 1st May 2025 and 11.59pm on 16th May 2025.
There is no requirement to have claimed for a previous PQS to claim an Aspiration payment for PQS 2025/26. Once pharmacy owners have reviewed the requirements of the PQS 2025/26, they will need to decide which domains they intend to meet by 31st March 2026, when they make their Aspiration declaration.
Q. I have recently bought a pharmacy; am I eligible to claim an Aspiration payment?
Yes, if you are able to do so between 9am on 1st May 2025 and 11.59pm on 16th May 2025.
Q. When will I be paid my Aspiration payment once I have claimed it?
Pharmacy owners will be paid their Aspiration payment on 1st July 2025.
Q. Do I have to claim an Aspiration payment?
No, the Aspiration payment is optional. If pharmacy owners do not want to claim it, it will not impact on the pharmacy owner’s ability to claim a PQS payment for the 2025/26 Scheme.
Q. What happens if I do not meet all the domains that I have aspired to meet (when claiming my Aspiration payment) when I make my PQS declaration during the declaration period?
Where pharmacies have been paid an Aspiration payment which exceeds their final declared total, they must pay back monies for domains which have subsequently not been achieved; this will be deducted automatically by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). Receiving an Aspiration payment is conditional on a pharmacy owner’s agreement to this arrangement.
Q. Are both domains worth the same amount of points/payment?
No. For the majority of pharmacies the Medicines optimisation domain has 30 points allocated to it and the Patient safety domain has 20 points allocated. This difference is due to more activity and workload being included in the Medicines optimisation domain, compared to the Patient safety domain. For very low volume pharmacies, there is a lower allocation of points, but the proportionate allocation is the same as for the majority of pharmacies.
Q. How will my PQS payment be affected if I have not achieved all of the quality criteria in a domain?
If you have not achieved all the quality criteria in a domain, you will not be able to claim payment for that domain. For example, if you do not meet the three criteria (Clinical audit criterion, Sepsis training criterion and the Regularising Enhanced DBS checks for registered pharmacy professionals criterion) in the Patient safety domain, you will not be eligible to claim payment for that domain.
Q. Do I need to meet both domains to be eligible for a PQS payment?
No. Each domain has an allocated number of points, which vary based on the pharmacy’s prescription volume. While you must meet all the criteria in a domain to achieve the points for that domain, you do not need to achieve both domains to receive a PQS payment.
Q. Who is a pharmacy professional?
Pharmacy professionals are pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
Q. Are trainee pharmacists and trainee pharmacy technicians covered by the description ‘pharmacy professionals’, with regard to the training requirements in PQS?
No. It is, however, sensible for trainee pharmacists and trainee pharmacy technicians to undertake this training.
Q. Are part-time staff included in the training requirements for PQS?
Yes. The training requirements apply to all specified pharmacy staff working at the pharmacy on the day of the declaration. The number of hours a member of staff is employed for is not relevant.
Q. If I fail one of the required CPPE e-assessments, can I attempt it again straight away?
No. To allow you time to revisit the learning materials, you will be locked out of retaking the assessment for 20 hours. If you believe that you have been locked out in error, please contact CPPE at info@cppe.ac.uk.
Q. Do I need to complete all six e-learning programmes on sepsis to complete the CPPE sepsis online training as some of these do not appear relevant to community pharmacy?
Yes. Each of the short e-learning programmes explores the recognition of sepsis across a variety of settings supporting the use of a shared language between the health professions. Completing all of the programmes is required and will assist you to pass the sepsis e-assessment, which is also required for meeting this gateway criterion.
Q. Are there any resources available to assist me with sharing my learning with my patient-facing staff to ensure they understand alert symptoms for suspected sepsis?
CPPE has a sepsis page on their site which includes resources (such as the NICE pathway for sepsis recognition) which can be used to assist in ensuring patient-facing staff understand alert symptoms to ensure referral of suspected sepsis to a pharmacist. The UK Sepsis Trust also has e-learning and other educational resources.
Q. How many patients with asthma need to be referred to a healthcare professional to meet the quality criteria?
There is not a specified number of people with asthma that need to be referred to meet the quality criteria.
Updating NHS Profile Manager
Q. If my pharmacy does not routinely stock the 16 palliative and end of life critical (PEoLC) medicines listed in the Palliative and end of life care action plan criterion do I need to start stocking these medicines to be able to claim as meeting the requirements of the domain?
No. If pharmacy owners do not routinely stock these medicines, there is no requirement to stock these medicines to meet the requirements of the criterion.
Q. If my pharmacy does not routinely stock the 16 PEoLC medicines listed in the Palliative and end of life care action plan criterion, do I need to update NHS Profile Manager to confirm that I do not stock these medicines?
No. If you do not routinely stock the 16 PEoLC medicines listed in the Palliative and end of life care action plan criterion, you are not required to update NHS Profile Manager; it is only those pharmacy owners that stock the medicines, who are required to update NHS Profile Manager.
Q. Will my pharmacy be liable for the cost of the 16 PEoLC medicines if they go out of date?
Generally yes, but pharmacy owners are not required to order the 16 PEoLC to meet the requirements of the Palliative and end of life care action plan criterion.
If pharmacy owners routinely stock these medicines, for example, if they are providing a locally commissioned service, which requires the pharmacy to stock these medicines, then they would be required to update NHS Profile Manager to indicate that they stock the medicines.
If pharmacy owners are providing a locally commissioned service, they would need to refer to the individual service specification for guidance regarding reimbursement of medicines that go out of date.
Q. Can a pharmacy owner still achieve all the points for the Medicines optimisation domain if they do not stock the 16 PEoLC medicines listed in the Palliative and end of life care action plan criterion?
Yes. If pharmacy owners do not stock these medicines, they are not required to update NHS Profile Manager. They can, however, still claim all the points for the domain by creating an action plan (as detailed in the Drug Tariff Determination) to use if the pharmacy receives a prescription for one of these palliative and end of life care medicines and they do not have the medicine in stock.
Q. Will I receive an email to confirm that I have updated NHS Profile Manager to show that my pharmacy is a Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder?
No. However, you could consider taking screenshots of NHS Profile Manager to show that the pharmacy profile has been updated.
Q. My pharmacy normally stocks the 16 PEoLC, but one of the medicines is out of stock, do I need to update NHS Profile Manager to show one of the products is not currently in stock?
No. The PQS requirement requires the pharmacy to ‘routinely’ hold the 16 PEoLC medicines in stock. Therefore, if you would normally have this medicine in stock, then your pharmacy is still a Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder and there is no requirement to update NHS Profile Manager.
Q. My pharmacy stocked the 16 PEoLC medicines as part of a locally commissioned service but the service has been decommissioned. We have therefore decided to not stock the PEoLC medicines anymore. Do we need to update NHS Profile Manager?
Yes. If the pharmacy is no longer routinely stocking the 16 PEoLC medicines, then the Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder box on NHS Profile Manager would need to be unticked.
Q. I have checked NHS Service Finder to identify which pharmacies in my area are a stockholder of the 16 PEoLC medicines, but I cannot find any pharmacies listed. What should I do?
Pharmacy owners have until the end of 31st March 2026 to make this update to meet the PQS requirement (if they routinely stock the 16 PEoLC medicines). Therefore, other pharmacy owners in your area may not have updated NHS Profile Manager yet. You may wish to check NHS Service Finder at a later date to see if any pharmacies have updated their profiles.
The other option is to speak to your LPC to see if they have information on who is a Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder in the area.
Q. How was it decided which medicines would be included in the PEoLC medicines list?
When this criterion was first introduced to PQS in 2022/24 a clinical group was set up and led by the National Clinical Director for PEoLC at NHS England, to bring together a group of specialist clinicians including consultant pharmacists to help advise.
The group produced a long list of medicines that were used for PEoLC and included in various existing locally commissioned PEoLC services. The clinical group reviewed the list trying to keep it relatively small and with consideration to the criteria below ensuring they had a range of products primarily focused on end of life care but recognising they are also useful for rapid access in palliative care:
• The products enabled a range of administration routes to support patients who may not be able to swallow/any easy venous access;
• Cost to the pharmacy contractor for holding the stock;
• Supply chain availability; and
• Shelf life of manufactured products.
This list has been reviewed again for PQS 2025/26 by the current National Clinical Director for PEoLC at NHS England.
Q. Is there a financial incentive to stock the 16 PEoLC medicines as part of the Palliative and end of life care action plan criterion?
There is no financial incentive for pharmacy owners to stock the 16 PEoLC medicines within the PQS criterion.
Action plan
Q. Do pharmacy owners need to create an action plan if they routinely stock the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines?
Yes. All pharmacy owners who plan to claim for the Medicines optimisation domain (and therefore meet the requirements of the Palliative and end of life care action plan criterion) will need to complete the action plan, regardless of whether they stock the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines. This is because even if a pharmacy owner routinely stocks these medicines, there may be occasions when they do not have a certain medicine in stock, for example, they gave out the medicine earlier that day and are waiting for more stock to arrive. Due to the urgent need of these medicines, it is important that pharmacy owners can assist a patient or their relative or carer in obtaining the medicines they require as swiftly as possible by re-directing them to the nearest open pharmacy that has this medicine.
Q. Does the action plan need to be submitted to NHS England or my ICB?
No. The action plan does not need to be submitted routinely to NHS England or your ICB, but pharmacy owners should ensure that a copy of the action plan is kept in the pharmacy.
Q. Does the action plan need to be completed by the pharmacy team or can our head office team complete it?
The action plan needs to be completed by the pharmacy team at the pharmacy premises; however, different strategies can be used to meet these requirements therefore the Superintendent Pharmacist or other head office colleagues may be involved in determining any organisation-level strategies to meet this requirement.
Q. Are there any resources available to assist pharmacy owners with creating an action plan?
A template action plan is available on the PQS hub page.
Q. Are you aware of any organisations who offer support to pharmacy owners with regards to Enhanced DBS checks?
We have been made aware of two organisations who offer support to pharmacy owners with regards to Enhanced DBS checks:
Listing in this FAQ does not constitute endorsement of the organisation by Community Pharmacy England.
FAQs on the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal can be found on our MYS webpage.
Q. Do I need to make a declaration if my pharmacy does not meet the gateway criterion for the 2025/26 PQS?
No, pharmacy owners are only required to make a declaration if they intend to claim payment for the Scheme. If pharmacy owners do not meet the gateway criterion, they would not then be eligible to claim a PQS payment, therefore there is no requirement to make a declaration.
Q. What should I do if I have made a mistake in my PQS declaration and have claimed for a criterion that I did not achieve?
Email the NHSBSA Provider Assurance team at nhsbsa.pharmacysupport@nhs.net to let them know about the incorrectly claimed PQS criterion, so this can be amended in the MYS data before payments are calculated.
Q. When can I make a declaration for a PQS payment?
The window for claiming a PQS payment on MYS is between 9am on 2nd February 2026 and 11.59pm on 27th February 2026.
It is important not to miss this deadline as you will not be able to claim a PQS payment if you do.
Q. When will I be paid my PQS payment?
Pharmacy owners who meet the gateway criterion plus at least one domain and submit their claim between 9am on 2nd February 2026 and 11.59pm on 27th February 2026 will be paid their PQS payment on 1st April 2026.
Q. How long should I retain PQS paperwork/records for post-payment verification (PPV) purposes?
Community Pharmacy England recommends that PQS paperwork/records are retained for three years following the submission of the PQS declaration for PPV purposes. Pharmacy owners may need to retain paperwork and records for longer periods for reasons other than PPV.
For more information on this topic please email services.team@cpe.org.uk
