Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make a cost-benefit assessment of the Pharmacy Earlier Payment Scheme.

Pharmacies are paid in arrears for the provision of pharmaceutical services in the National Health Service. The Pharmacy Earlier Payment Scheme was a private scheme that gave community pharmacies early access to their payments for the provision of NHS pharmaceutical services. The scheme ended on 1 October 2021.

In November 2021, the Department enabled early access to payments for all pharmacies. Pharmacies can claim for activity for a given month by the fifth of the next month and will receive payment around five days later.