Superdrug pharmacists are set to receive a 3% pay rise after the company and the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) agreed a pay settlement for 2026.
The agreement will come into effect from 1 April and will see all eligible Superdrug pharmacists covered by the PDA pay agreement receive a 3% increase to their existing basic pay, with all pay bandings for those roles rising by the same percentage.
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Foundation trainee pharmacists will also see their annual pay increase to £30,000 per year, the PDA and Superdrug announced in a joint statement.
The joint statement said that starting salaries for newly qualified pharmacists – who will now all be independent prescribers – will remain at £50,000 a year, while salaries for pharmacy managers with more than a year of post-registration experience will be increased to a minimum of £55,000.
Any pharmacy managers who reach one year’s post-registration experience before the next pay review will have their pay increased to £50,000 per annum in the month following that anniversary, the statement added.
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Superdrug and the PDA’s statement also said that the annual supplement paid to senior pharmacy managers (SPMs) will be increased from £1,500 to £1,750. Management will provide more clarity on the process, what the senior pharmacy manager role includes, and what it takes to be a senior pharmacy manager.
The agreement also set out that all mandatory training and nationally commissioned services that require training should be done in paid time.
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This was the first pay review since Superdrug and the PDA trade union established the recognition agreement. Both negotiation teams thanked pharmacists for their ‘continued professional commitment and hard work’ taking care of patients.
The recognition agreement was announced in December last year after 94% of pharmacists employed by Superdrug voted in favour of the PDA being recognised to represent them.
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