Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, if she will provide additional financial support to pharmacies for (a) employer National Insurance contributions, (b) the national minimum wage and (c) business rates.

The Budget will provide support for government departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs only. Pharmacies are independent contractors and therefore will not be exempt from these changes. This is consistent with the approach to previous Employer NICs changes, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.

At the Budget the Chancellor announced a £22.6 billion increase in day to day spending for the Department of Health and Social Care from 2023-24 to 2025-26. This is an average increase of 4% in real terms funding growth for the NHS, the highest since before 2010 excluding COVID-19 years.

The Department of Health and Social Care will set out further details of how detailed allocations will be spent, including pharmacy funding, in due course.

From 1 April 2025, the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 6.7% to £12.21 per hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over. This represents an increase of £1,400 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and is expected to benefit over 3 million low-paid workers. In accepting the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations, which balance the impacts on business, competitiveness of the labour market and wider economy, as well as the cost of living, the government is providing support to the lowest-paid workers in the economy whilst ensuring that wider economic conditions remain stable and create the conditions for growth.

We are creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century. To deliver our manifesto pledge, from 2026-27, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including pharmacies, from 2026-27. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support.

Ahead of these changes being made, the Government recognises that businesses will need support in 2025-26. As such, we have prevented the current RHL relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and we have frozen the small business multiplier.