Photo by: HM Treasury
The Spring Budget announced measures to align two measures VAT treatment and followed concerted campaigning by the CCA for a number of years across a range of tax issues.
Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the Company Chemists’ Association said:
“At the CCA we have been working closely with HMRC and DHSC on a whole host of tax issues for several years now. We’re delighted that the Chancellor has today announced measures which will place pharmacists on an equal footing with GPs and other prescribers.
The measures in today’s budget will ensure alignment in the VAT treatment of both the services provided under the supervision of pharmacists and the medicines supplied by Patient Group Directions (PGDs).
The CCA has long campaigned for the full breadth of the pharmacy team to be utilised. From May this year healthcare services provided by members of the pharmacy team, under the supervision of a pharmacist, will be treated as zero rated for VAT. In addition, from this autumn, medicines supplied via PGD’s will be treated the same way for VAT as those prescribed by a GP or independent prescribing pharmacist.
These measures will boost capacity in pharmacies, and crucially pave the way for the future commissioning of clinical services in community pharmacy.
We hope that this is the launchpad for further announcements in the upcoming Primary Care Recovery Plan, including a fully-funded Pharmacy First service in England – a no-brainer for patients, primary care and the NHS”.