Leaders from the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA), Community Pharmacy England (CPE) and Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) have written a joint letter to health secretary Wes Streeting warning of pharmacy closures caused by the autumn budget.
Last month, the new government’s first budget saw Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirm a rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs) and the national living wage from April 2025.
Read more: Minimum wage to rise 6.7% as National Insurance hike confirmed
Today (November 29), all four pharmacy bodies have written to Streeting, Reeves, Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones and pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock to “impress upon [them] the urgent need to shield community pharmacies from the increased costs and measures in the budget”.
They added that the NIC and national living wage increases “will add circa £50 million and £115-152m in costs to the sector respectively [and] will further undermine the already perilous position facing the pharmacy network”.
Read more: Boots warns Chancellor budget will cause ‘inevitable’ job losses
“We fear that, without mitigation, these additional costs will push many more [pharmacies] towards insolvency,” they said.
“We very much want to work constructively with you to help deliver your mission for the NHS” – but “the sector needs to be put on a sustainable financial footing to achieve this”, they stressed.
Budget blows
Meanwhile, Boots last week signed a letter to the Chancellor sharing businesses’ “significant concerns” about the “impact of the budget on the retail industry” including “inevitable” job losses.
Sent by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the letter was signed by the chief executives of 82 businesses who said that “for any retailer, large or small, it will not be possible to absorb such significant cost increases over such a short timescale”.
Read more: No deal! Pharmacy will not receive additional funding to cover NICs
Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) also last week sent a joint letter to the cabinet secretary for finance calling for support for independent contractors.
“Public sector relief from NICs is being offered to insulate secondary care,” the letter said, calling for “equivalent” relief to be provided for pharmacies in Scotland.
Earlier this month, the Treasury told C+D that pharmacies and GPs would not receive additional funding to help with the burden of increased employer NICs.
