NHS England will make an additional payment to pharmacies with their March payments – i.e. along with the final payment for the March 2015 dispensing month which is made in late May/ early June.

The payment will be calculated as an additional fee for each pharmacy, based on professional fee numbers. The fee will be 3.3 pence for each professional fee paid from April 2014 to December 2014.

This additional fee is paid in recognition of the reduction in margin available to contractors in the early months of this financial year.

As part of the 2014-15 community pharmacy contractual framework it had been agreed that pharmacies would be allowed to retain £800 million of margin income and, whilst the final outcome of the margin survey will not be known until later in this calendar year, early analysis indicates that this total is unlikely to be reached.

In a joint statement, PSNC and NHS England said:

“It remains our intention to smooth the delivery of funding to community pharmacy contractors as much as possible. This additional fee has been agreed in light of the predicted under delivery of margin in 2014-15.”

FAQs

Q. When will the additional payment for March 2015 be paid?
A. The additional fee will be paid along with your final payment for the March 2015 dispensing month. The usual payment timescales mean this payment will be made in late May/ early June.

Q. How do contractors claim the extra payment?
A. Pharmacy contractors do not need to do anything to claim the additional payment – it will be calculated based on the professional fees paid to them between April and December 2014 and added to their March payments by the Pricing Authority.

Q. Will Welsh pharmacy contractors receive the additional payment for March 2015?
A. The Drug Tariff contains payment and reimbursement information for both English and Welsh pharmacy contractors and, unless specified otherwise, will apply to both English and Welsh pharmacy contractors. Part IIIA of the April 2015 edition of the Drug Tariff explicitly states that this additional payment is applicable to both English and Welsh contractors.

Q. How much is this payment worth in total and to each pharmacy? 
A. Across the sector the additional payment to contractors will be worth around £25m. The amount each pharmacy receives will depend on the number of items they dispensing from April 2014 to December 2014. For contractors dispensing average prescription numbers the payment will be around £2,000 – £2,200.

Q. My pharmacy was open between April 2014 and December 2014, but its NHS code (commonly known as the F code) changed during this time – will I still receive the additional fees?
A. In this scenario, the contractor must contact the Pricing Authority to determine whether they are eligible for the additional fee. The team to write to is as follows:

NHS Business Services Authority
Customer Payment Team
Stella House, Goldcrest Way
Newburn Riverside
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE15 8NY

Q. My pharmacy had a change in F code between April 2014 and December 2015; when do I need to notify the Pricing Authority of this change?
A. Contractors should write to the address published in the Drug Tariff Part IIIA(3) (see address above) as soon as possible. However, if the request is received after 15th May and a payment is due, this will be made with a subsequent month’s payment at a later date as it cannot be made with your final payment for March 2015 (paid in June 2015).

Contractors are reminded that the deadline for any payment queries is 18 months after the month in question, therefore in this instance 30th September 2016. However, the sooner a notification of a change in F code is sent to the Pricing Authority, the sooner any required adjustments can be made.

Q. My pharmacy was open between April 2014 and December 2014, but has since closed – will I still receive the additional fees?
A. Any pharmacy account (determined by an NHS or F code) which ceased to exist prior to 1st March 2015, and therefore not submitting a claim for payment for the March 2015 dispensing month, is not entitled to the payment.