CPCF 2020-21 Framework Funding – distribution of funding

The purpose of this edition of Contractor News is to provide details of the agreed funding envelope for community pharmacies in 2020/21 and sets out how funding will be distributed in Quarter One. These arrangements are temporary and Welsh Government will keep each of the funding elements under review as the network is able to move towards “business as usual”.   The figures do not include any additional funding that may be secured to cover additional costs incurred by community pharmacies resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.  Negotiations with Welsh Government regarding those matters are on going.

In line with the agreement which CPW and Welsh Government reached in March 2020, core funding is being increased by £2.4m. An additional £0.1m has been made available specifically to support the development of Primary Care Cluster Lead roles, the detail of which will be discussed with Welsh Government in the coming months.

Welsh Government remains committed to achieving phased reductions in the proportion of funding made available for dispensing services with equivalent increases in the proportion of funding allocated to support the delivery of clinical services. In response, CPW has indicated that the experience of the past two months has demonstrated the importance of medicines supply in the efforts to protect the NHS at a critical time. CPW has emphasised that, going forward, it is essential to ensure that the infrastructure necessary to respond in the manner that community pharmacy has been able to respond in the recent past is not jeopardised by unreasonable funding reductions. Welsh Government has agreed that the phasing of the transfer of funding will be a matter that the parties will discuss later in 2020/21. To continue to support the transition to a clinical service model the practice payment is notionally split into two parts with part being a transition payment.

The estimates of funding for each element of the CPCF reflect the agreement that was reached earlier this year. The stated intention is to roll over existing arrangements with, what is considered to be,  the minimum changes needed to maintain momentum for the first half of 2020/21; the continuation of enhanced service funding at the 2019/20 levels and the suspension of the Medicines Use Review Service for the whole of 2020/21.

With regard to prescription volumes, the underlying assumption is that, excluding the impact of Covid-19, volume would have grown by some 1.7% in 2019/20 (the level of growth in February 2020).  An increase of 1.7% has, therefore, been applied to 2020/21 to reach an estimate of 78.4 million prescription items dispensed in the current financial year.

On this basis, the indicative distribution of funding in 2020/21 is set out in the table below:

	2020/21	2019/20	Notes
	£m	£m
Dispensing Fees including special fees	76.41
Establishment Payments	17.60
Practice Payments	25.85
Repeat Dispensing	1.71
Sub Total	121.57	121.38
Additional Funding Q4		1.50
TOTAL DISPENSING FEES	121.57	122.88
Arrangements for Shielded Patients	5.81	–
IM&T	1.71	1.71
Collaborative Working	1.07	1.07
Quality & Safety	3.57	3.57
Continuity	4.28	2.15
Advanced Services	0.44	6.46
Enhanced Services	8.51	8.51
IP Services	0.70	0.70
Workforce	0.14	0.35
Primary Care Cluster leads	0.13	–
Screens	0.21	–
STT&T Consumables	0.10	0.10
Rounding	0.02	(0.27)
TOTAL FUNDING	148.26	147.23
Explanatory Notes:
Baseline Funding	148.13	145.7	Increase of 1.67%
Practice Payment	£0.329 per item	£0.244 per item	2020/21 Includes transition funding of £0.10/ item
Arrangements for Shielded & Self-Isolating Patients (Re-purposed MUR funding)	5.81		78.45m items @ 7.4p/item

RUSSELL GOODWAY
CHIEF EXECUTIVE

15 May 2020