Any business rate support being offered to pubs should be extended to pharmacy premises, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has said.
This follows a U-turn on upcoming increases to the business rates faced by pubs in England, set to be announced by the government in the next few days.
The government is expected to say it will alter how pubs’ business rates are calculated, resulting in smaller bill increases than those faced by other non-domestic properties
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Chief executive of the NPA, Henry Gregg, said: ‘Pharmacies have recently seen a 140% increase in their business rates, despite receiving the vast majority of their income from the NHS.
‘Any relief or additional support that is being offered to pubs should be extended to community pharmacy premises, who cannot increase their prices to manage these costs, unlike an ordinary high street business.’
In her 2025 autumn Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves scaled back business rate discounts that have been in place since the pandemic from 75% to 40% and announced that there would be no discount at all from April.
GP practices can make an application to NHS England (Property Services) for ‘financial assistance’ towards a reimbursement of all rent, business rates, water and clinical waste collection charges they have paid.
However, there is no equivalent legislation that allows pharmacy businesses to do the same.
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Mr Gregg urged the government to ‘exempt pharmacy businesses from business rates altogether, in the same way as GPs are’.
He added: ‘Despite a recent uplift, pharmacies still face a yawning £2.6 billion funding gap, with pharmacies closing in record numbers and those still open going to extraordinary and unsustainable lengths to do so.’
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) also said that the autumn Budget would ‘add further cost pressures’ to community pharmacy due to the national living wage increase.
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Over the last 15 years, the national living wage has increased from £6.08 per hour in 2011 to £12.71 in 2026. Core funding for pharmacies has fallen in real terms over the same period, CPE added.
And pharmacies in England face ‘at least £275m’ of additional costs next year, the NPA recently warned.
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