Business funding for pharmacies

When the NHS pays a pharmacy

1. 1

   Dispense through the month

   You buy medicines from wholesalers and dispense NHS prescriptions through the month, for example the whole of October 2026.

2. 2

   Submit by the 5th

   The prescriptions go to the NHS Business Services Authority, with the claim declaration, by the 5th of the following month.

3. 3

   Advance payment

   An advance of 100% of the estimated value, based on your item numbers and average item value, is paid from day 8 of the submission month. For October 2026 dispensing that is 11 November 2026.

4. 4

   Reconciliation

   Once the prescriptions are priced, the balance is paid on the first working day two months after submission, or recovered from a later advance. For October 2026 dispensing that is 31 December 2026.

A submission that misses the 5th is paid a month later. Source: Drug Tariff Part I, clause 5C, October 2026.

Why the payment timetable matters to a lender

The advance is an estimate based on the pharmacy’s latest average item value, and the reconciliation two months later corrects it. When the prices of medicines you dispense rise above that average, the advance can fall short of what you have paid the wholesaler, and the difference comes back only at reconciliation.

The timetable also shapes a purchase. The buyer takes over the stock at completion and starts dispensing, but the first advance for the buyer’s own dispensing is paid in the month after its first month of trading. Plan working capital for that gap, and agree in the sale contract who receives the NHS payments for prescriptions dispensed before completion.

Wholesaler accounts sit on the other side of the gap. The credit limit and terms your wholesalers give a new owner decide how much of the timing you fund yourself, so agree them before completion.

Change of ownership approvals

NHS change of ownership

An application under regulation 26 of the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 to take over the pharmacy’s place on the pharmaceutical list. The buyer undertakes to provide the same pharmaceutical services without interruption, unless NHS England allows a break for good cause.

General Pharmaceutical Council registration

The new owner notifies the change no later than 28 days after it happens, or the premises are removed from the register.

Superintendent pharmacist

A company or LLP that does not already own a pharmacy nominates a superintendent pharmacist with its notification.

Lender conditions

The loan is drawn at completion once the NHS application is granted, the premises registration is arranged and the lease is assigned.