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The Company Chemists’ Association chief executive Malcolm Harrison has hit out over the “devastating impact” the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) is having on community pharmacy’s workforce and urged the Government to set out solutions in its workforce plan this summer.

Harrison (pictured) insisted ARRS had “directly led to a shortage of community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians” having been introduced by NHS England in 2019 to expand the primary care workforce and stop shortages of GPs.

Last month, the health minister Stephen Kinnock produced figures in parliament that showed an increase in the number of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians recruited through ARRS over the last four years.

Increasing number of pharmacists recruited through ARRS

In December 2021, 5,156 pharmacists were recruited to general practice and primary care networks, compared with 6,534 the following December. That increased again to 7,935 pharmacists in 2023 and 8,153 in 2024.

The recruitment of pharmacy technicians also saw increases over those periods, going from 1,140 in 2021 to 1,891 in 2022, 2,598 in 2023 and 2,806 last year.

Last month, NHSE said it would increase ARRS reimbursement for some pharmacists for 2025-26 by 1.7 per cent to £66,972.

“The additional roles reimbursement scheme has had a devastating impact on community pharmacy,” Harrison said. “Whilst the recruitment of pharmacists via ARRS has slowed down recently, this will bring little relief to businesses.

“In trying to address the shortage of GPs, it has directly led to a shortage of community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.”

2023 workforce plan failed to 'carefully' manage ARRS expansion 

He insisted the original NHS workforce plan, published in 2023 during the Conservatives’ time in Government, failed to fulfil its promise to “carefully” manage the expansion of ARRS.

“(It) pledged to ensure that ARRS expansion would be ‘carefully managed taking into to account additional training of pharmacists’. However, it’s clear that no such action has taken place,” Harrison said.

“The upcoming workforce plan must set out clear steps as to how the pharmacy workforce will be expanded to meet the ever-increasing demands of the NHS.”

Last week, Labour revealed around £88 million of ARRS funding was unspent by PCNs in 2023-24, equating to about six per cent of the £1.41 billion available to them during that period.