The new Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) has been designed to transform the service provided by community pharmacies from a supply focused service to a clinically focused service. As such, the way community pharmacy is funded is also changing.

Flat funding has been agreed for the next five years (2019/20 to 2023/24) as part of the CPCF. This has been fixed at £2.592bn per year and will include dispensing, the Pharmacy Quality Scheme and the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service.

The balance between fees for dispensing and fees for clinical services will change over the duration of the agreement – fees for dispensing will decline whilst fees for clinical services will increase. This means that efficiencies in the dispensing service must be found for pharmacies to remain profitable.

Establishment payments will be phased out, as will medicines use reviews. Transition payments will be paid to pharmacy contractors until March 2021 to help them transform processes in the pharmacy. The size of the payment will be linked to dispensing volume.

Reimbursement arrangements will continue to be developed to smooth cash flow and create a fairer distribution of margin.