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Pharmacy owners will be given additional time to claim for the provision of four services if IT issues, outside their control, prevent timely submissions. Effective February 2025, this provision applies to Hypertension Case-Finding, Pharmacy Contraception Service, Pharmacy First, and Smoking Cessation Services. Currently, claims must be submitted via the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal by the 5th of the following month, with late claims accepted only within three months of the actual submission date. Under the new rule, pharmacy owners will have an additional twelve months (from the date by which the claim should have been submitted) to claim payment if they can provide evidence of an IT issue beyond their control that delayed the claim submission. This new provision will be included in Part VIC of the February 2025 Drug Tariff, which will also have a clarification about de-registration from the four advanced services. The clarification will state that pharmacy owners who de-register from providing one of these services cannot re-register for four months after their 30-day notice period ends.

Parliamentarians continue to highlight the serious challenges faced by community pharmacists, calling for increased support for the sector. On Wednesday, January 8, during Prime Minister's Questions, Marie Goldman, Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, drew attention to the issue of pharmacies dispensing medications at a loss. Goldman cited the case of a pharmacy owner in her constituency who is 'sometimes forced to pay over 100 times more' for a particular mental health drug than the contract reimburses. Dipak, the pharmacy owner, has been serving his community since opening his pharmacy in 1991, often greeting patients by name. However, he is now struggling to keep his business afloat as his NHS contract no longer covers the cost of the drugs he dispenses. "Dipak is dipping into his life savings to keep the pharmacy afloat. I am sure many other pharmacies are doing the same," Goldman stated. She asked the prime minister whether he agreed that "no pharmacist should be forced to use their own money to keep their pharmacy viable."

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has developed a webtool to help community pharmacy contractors estimate the impact on their payments under the new discount deduction system. The calculator aims to illustrate the changes to discount deduction that a pharmacy could experience during the transition to the new arrangements from October 2022 to January 2024, when the new system will be fully in place. PSNC's calculator requires contractors to input information about their individual pharmacy dispensing mix (i.e. split of reimbursement by appliances, brands and generics) to provide an estimate for the level of impact the new discount deduction system will have. "The impact on individual pharmacies cannot be estimated without using dispensing mix data, meaning that any estimates which do not take this into account will not be reliable," said PSNC. For years many contractors have been frustrated by how discount is applied to their accounts and have often raised concerns about the blanket nature of its application to PSNC.

Members of the House of Lords debated the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill on Monday (6 January) during its second reading. Lord Livermore, financial secretary to the Treasury, opened the debate, emphasising that the Bill was necessary to "repair the public finances, to protect working people and to rebuild our public services." He highlighted the economic challenges faced by the government, including a £22 billion black hole in the public finances and several unfunded commitments inherited from the previous administration. Livermore stressed the government's number one commitment is "economic and fiscal stability" and the measures in this Bill would ensure that "not a single penny of day-to-day government spending will be funded by borrowing" within three years.

Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS), along with 47 public and voluntary sector organisations, has endorsed a letter to UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, seeking funding support for employer national insurance contributions ahead of the planned increases from the 1st of April 2025. The letter, co-signed by first minister John Swinney and COSLA president Shona Morrison, raises concerns over the impact of the impending increase, which is estimated to cost public service providers in Scotland over £700 million. The Scottish Government calculated that the policy's cost for the directly employed public sector could be around £550 million, with councils accounting for about £265 million of that total. If contractors and commissioned services are included, the total costs could exceed £700 million. The letter also underscores the significant impact on charitable organisations, stating that "there is a real risk that these costs will see employers unable to award meaningful pay rises, retain staff or even continue to operate." The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations has estimated that the Third Sector, comprising charities, social enterprises and grassroot community groups, will face additional costs of £75 million per year, plus wider inflation.