Flat Fee payment for pharmacy contractors to rollout in April

The new Flat Fee payment to roll out in April 2023 to all pharmacy contractors who dispense at least 101 items a month, up to a national total of £70m on an annual basis.

"The value of the Flat Fee payment has now been determined at £533 per month and will be introduced in the April 2023 Drug Tariff," said the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).

“As with all payments, the Flat Fee payments are subject to change throughout the year depending on the overall level of funding delivery to Community Pharmacies. This will be carefully monitored by PSNC and DHSC, and any funding changes will be communicated to pharmacy contractors as soon as they are known,” said PSNC.

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) introduced Flat Fee payment last year in an update for year 4 and year 5 of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). It further said, “Any remaining unallocated funding will continue to be paid out as a transitional payment until the end of year 5, or until the unallocated funding is fully deployed against growing service volumes and/or by the flat fee, which we will jointly monitor.”