Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they considered the findings of NHS England’s economic analysis which shows the community pharmacy sector is under-funded by over £2 billion per annum when deciding to clawback a further £16.8 million per quarter from community pharmacies through adjustments to drug tariff pricelists.

Funding for pharmaceutical services is through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) settlement. For 2025/26, this was increased to £3.073 billion, of which £900 million is the amount pharmacy contractors are allowed to retain as medicine margin, the difference between the reimbursement price and the purchase price paid by the pharmacy contractor.

The Department, along with Community Pharmacy England, the representative body of community pharmacies, assesses the medicines margin retained by community pharmacies in totality, through a ‘quarterly margin survey’. If too much medicine margin is being delivered, then downwards adjustments, or clawbacks, are made to bring this in line with the allowed medicine margin as agreed under the CPCF settlement.

The economic analysis is considered as part of the wider decision on the CPCF settlement, which was agreed with Community Pharmacy England, the representative body of community pharmacies. The medicine margin adjustment made each quarter, including the downward adjustment of £16.8 million per quarter made in January 2026, is operating within the agreed 2025/26 CPCF settlement.