Pharmacy Contraception Service

Pharmacy Contraception Service

The PCS commenced on 24th April 2023, allowing the on-going supply of oral contraception (OC) from community pharmacies. On 1st December 2023, the service expanded to include both initiation and on-going supply of OC. From 29th October 2025, the service was further revised to include the addition of oral emergency contraception (EC), provision by pharmacy technicians and the addition of drospirenone to the progestogen only pill list.

The service involves community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians providing:

• Initiation: where a person wishes to start OC for the first time or needs to restart OC following a pill free break. A person who is being switched to an alternative pill following consultation can also be considered as an initiation;
• Ongoing supply: where a person has been supplied with OC by a primary care provider or a sexual health clinic (or equivalent) and a subsequent equivalent supply is needed. Their current supply of OC should still be in use; and
• Advice on EC and supply of oral EC: where a person of childbearing potential requires oral EC to reduce the risk of pregnancy after UPSI or where regular contraception has been compromised or used incorrectly.

Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS)

Published on: 22nd September 2022 | Updated on: 14th February 2026

This page contains information about the Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS), which is commissioned by NHS England as an Advanced service.

The PCS commenced on 24th April 2023, allowing the on-going supply of oral contraception (OC) from community pharmacies. On 1st December 2023, the service expanded to include both initiation and on-going supply of OC. From 29th October 2025, the service was further revised to include the addition of oral emergency contraception (EC), provision by pharmacy technicians and the addition of drospirenone to the progestogen only pill list.

Click on a heading below for more information

Introduction

The NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) Chapter 2 highlighted the importance of NHS services complementing the action taken by local government to support the commissioning of sexual health services. A Public Health England resource for commissioners (2019) also highlighted the role community pharmacy can play in supporting ongoing contraception.

In line with the agreement of the CPCF in 2019 to “test a range of prevention services’, a tiered pharmacy contraception service was designed. The initial tiered approach proposed was as follows:

• Tier 1 – Ongoing monitoring and supply of repeat oral contraception (OC);
• Tier 2 – Initiation of OC via a Patient Group Direction (PGD);
• Tier 3 – Ongoing monitoring and management of repeat long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), excluding intrauterine systems (IUS) and intrauterine devices (IUD); and
• Tier 4 – Initiation of LARCs.

In 2021, NHS England commenced a pilot involving pharmacies offering repeat supplies of oral contraception to people who had previously had the product prescribed.

In the Year 4 and Year 5 CPCF negotiations, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England proposed the commissioning of a Pharmacy Contraception Service, as an Advanced service, building on the learning from the pilot service.

In April 2023, the Tier 1 service launched. This initially involved community pharmacists providing ongoing management of routine oral contraception that was initiated in general practice or a sexual health clinic.

The supplies are authorised via a PGD, with appropriate checks, such as the measurement of the person’s blood pressure and body mass index (BMI), being undertaken, where necessary.

In May 2023, NHS England announced The Delivery Plan for recovering access in primary care. This highlighted the ambition to expand the PCS to increase access to and convenience of contraception services in line with the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy for England which had been announced in August 2022. The strategy flagged community pharmacy had a part to play in increasing choice in the ways people can access contraception.

Following negotiations between Community Pharmacy England, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, an expansion of the OC service was agreed and announced in November 2023. The expanded service, which removes reference to the original tiered service proposal, enables community pharmacists to also initiate oral contraception, via a PGD, and provide ongoing clinical checks and annual reviews.

Following negotiations between Community Pharmacy England, DHSC and NHS England on the funding arrangements for the CPCF for 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026, a further expansion of the PCS was agreed and announced on 31st March 2025. The further expansion of the service will allow pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to provide initiation of OC, routine monitoring and ongoing supply of OC and provision of oral EC via PGDs.

Community Pharmacy England have produced a Briefing that provides guidance for community pharmacy owners and their teams who are already providing the Pharmacy Contraception Service on the changes to the service from 29th October 2025.

Community Pharmacy England Briefing 016/25: Pharmacy Contraception Advanced Service – What’s changing?

An on-demand webinar that explains some of these changes is also available:

Emergency contraception and the PCS – on-demand webinar

The service provides another opportunity for pharmacy owners to help address health inequalities by providing wider healthcare access in their communities and signposting service users into local sexual health services in line with NICE guideline NG 102.

The objectives of the service are to:

• Provide a model for community pharmacy teams to initiate provision of OC, and to continue the provision of OC supplies initiated in primary care (including general practice and pharmacies) or sexual health clinics and equivalent;
• Provide a national model for community pharmacy teams to provide free oral EC to individuals of childbearing potential to reduce the risk of pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse (UPSI) or where regular contraception has been compromised or used incorrectly;
• Establish an integrated pathway between existing services and community pharmacies that provides people with greater choice and access when considering whether to be initiated on an OC, or seeking to continue their current form of OC; and
• Support tackling health inequalities through providing wider access to contraception services. Providing individuals from high-risk communities and vulnerable groups an integrated sexual health service from a pharmacy of their choice with no requirement to be registered with a general practice.

The service aims to provide:

• People greater choice from where people can access contraception services;
• Consistent access from community pharmacies across England to free OC and oral EC for individuals of childbearing potential, removing variation in the service offer found within locally commissioned services; and
• Extra capacity in primary care and sexual health clinics (or equivalent) to support meeting the demand for more complex assessments.

Service specification and other documentation

The service requirements are included in the service specification and Patient Group Directions (PGDs), which pharmacy owners must read before deciding whether to provide the service.

The service incorporates initiation and repeat supplies of contraception; any pharmacy registering to provide the service must provide both initiation and repeat supplies.

Download the service specification and Patient Group Directions (20th October 20225)

Service Directions

Download the service pathway for initiation

Download the service pathway for ongoing supply

Download the service pathway for oral Emergency Contraception

Community Pharmacy England Briefing 017/25: Guidance on the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service

Community Pharmacy England Briefing 016/25: Pharmacy Contraception Advanced Service – What’s changing?

An on-demand webinar that explains some of these changes is also available:

Emergency contraception and the PCS – on-demand webinar

This Community Pharmacy England Briefing provides additional guidance for pharmacy owners and their teams on the service. 

To find a pharmacy who is offering the Pharmacy Contraception service please use the service finder here.

There is also a patient postcode finder for EHC services here

To access your local formularies to determine the most appropriate medication to offer in line with the formulary for your local area, please click on the links below

• Sussex ICB combined hormonal contraception
• Sussex ICB Progesterone only contraception
• Frimley ICB Combined hormonal contraceptives  
• Frimley ICB Progesterone only contraceptives
• Surrey Heartlands ICB formulary

The supplies will be authorised via a Patient Group Direction (PGD), with appropriate checks, such as the measurement of the patient’s blood pressure and body mass index, being undertaken, where necessary.

Pharmacy owners must use an NHS-assured clinical IT system to make their clinical records and payment claims for the service and, where the person has consented, to send messages containing the individual’s consultation outcomes to their general practice. 

Details of the IT solutions available to support the service can be found on our Pharmacy services IT requirements webpage. 

All payment claims for the service must be made through the API this transfers the data to MYS.

Funding 

The following fees have been agreed for the service: 

• A set-up fee of £900 per pharmacy premises paid in instalments as follows: 

• £400 paid on signing up to deliver the service via the NHSBSA’s MYS portal; 
• £250 paid after claiming the first 5 consultations; and  
• £250 paid after claiming a further 5 consultations (i.e. 10 consultations completed).

• A fee for each consultation of £18 was paid until the end of March 2025. From 1st April 2025, the consultation fee for OC is £25.
• From 29th October 2025, the consultation fee of EC is £20.

A consultation fee is claimable irrespective of the outcome of the consultation.  

Where a subsequent consultation is provided to a person who has vomited within three hours of the initial dose of oral EC being taken, this should be recorded as a separate consultation and will be paid for accordingly.

Where a pharmacy owner is commissioned to provide any related services, e.g. the Hypertension Case-Finding Service (incorporating BP clinic measurement), the pharmacy owner may not claim twice for the same activity. 

The product price for the OC supplied will be reimbursed in accordance with the Drug Tariff determination. Any purchase margin made by pharmacies relating to contraceptives supplied as part of this service will be included in the calculation of allowed purchase margin that forms a part of agreed NHS pharmacy funding. 

Where a price concession has been granted for specific strengths of a product, this concession will apply to those specific strengths of products supplied as part of this service. Concessions will only apply to the month in which they are granted according to the usual Drug Tariff arrangements. 

Out of pocket expenses cannot be claimed as part of this service. 

Prescription charges are not relevant to the provision of this service and an appropriate patient declaration is not required. 

Competency and training requirements

Pharmacy owners must ensure that pharmacy staff providing any aspect of the service are competent to do so in line with the specific skills and knowledge in the service specification and the relevant PGDs. This may involve completion of training.

Pharmacy owners need to keep documentary evidence that all pharmacy staff involved in any aspect of provision of the service are competent with regards to the specific skills and knowledge outlined in the service specification and the relevant PGDs. 

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians providing the service will be personally responsible for remaining up to date with the skills and competencies identified in the service specification and associated PGDs.

To provide the service, the pharmacist and pharmacy technicians should have evidence of competence in the clinical skills and knowledge covered in the below listed training modules on the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) and/or the NHS England e-learning for healthcare (elfh).

CPPE also has a list of the modules and other useful tools and resources on the NHS PCS page of their website.

Packages that are highly recommended are indicated by an asterisk *

The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) has now changed its name to the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (CoSRH). Some training packages, pages and documents will continue to display the FSRH name. Where you see FSRH, this refers to CoSRH.

Mandatory training 

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians providing the service must have completed one of the recommended Safeguarding level 3 training materials OR have direct access to professional advice from someone who can advise on Safeguarding at Level 3.  

• Safeguarding Level 3 - Safeguarding Children and Adults Level 3 for Community Pharmacists – video on elfh;  

OR   

• Safeguarding Level 3 elfh Safeguarding Children and Young People (SGC) – Safeguarding Children Level 3.   

Recommended training modules 

Emergency Contraception

* CPPE Emergency contraception e-learning including emergency contraception e-assessment;   

Ongoing Supply

* CPPE Contraception e-learning including contraception e-assessment;   

OR the following four subsections of:   

*Module 3 – Contraceptive Choices of the CoSRH Sexual and Reproductive Health e-learning (e-SRH) on elfh:  

• • 03_01: Mechanism of action, effectiveness and UKMEC; 
  • 03_02: Choosing contraceptive methods; 
  • 03_03: Combined hormonal contraception; and  
  • 03_04: Progestogen only methods (oral and injectable).  

* CPPE Sexual health in pharmacies e- learning and e-assessment;   

OR the following four subsections of   

*Module 9 – STIs of the CoSRH e-SRH on elfh:  

• • 09_01: Epidemiology and transmission of STIs;  
  • 09_02: Sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing;  
  • 09_03: STI management; and  
  • 09_04: Partner notification.  

AND one subsection in the   

*External Resources module of the Sexual Health (PWP) e-learning on elfh:  

• • CoSRH – Contraception counselling eLearning.   (Community Pharmacy England is aware that the above link no longer navigates to the listed training. The matter has been reported to NHS England and it is being investigated.)

 Initiation  of contraception

The following subsections of Module 2 – Consent and history taking of CoSRH e-SRH on elfh:  

• • 02_01 Health history and risk assessment; and   
  • 02_02 Confidentiality, chaperones, and consent.  

The following subsection of Module 3 – Contraceptive choices of the CoSRH e-SRH on elfh:  

• • * 03_07 Barrier contraceptives  

The following subsections of Module 5 – Contraception: managing side-effects and complications of the CoSRH e-SRH on elfh:  

• • 05_01 Managing bleeding problems in women using contraceptives;  
  • 05_02 Managing contraceptive side-effects; and 
  • 05_03 Managing side-effects and complications of IUD and IUS.  

Other training to support clinical practice  

• CPPE Documenting in patient clinical records e-learning;  
• CPPE Remote consultation skills e-learning;  
• Patient group directions e-learning on elfh;
• CPPE Pharmacy technicians: using patient group directions in practice; and  
• CPPE consultation skills for pharmacy practice: taking a person-centred approach and e-assessment. 

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must also be familiar with at least one online shared decision-making contraception consultation tool. These tools can be used to support the pharmacist or pharmacy technician and are best shared with individuals ahead of a consultation to support their decision making. Examples are:

• Brook; and
• Contraception Choices.

Additional optional training

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians wanting to undertake further training to enhance their knowledge and skills to provide the PCS can also consider additional training on an optional basis to support their own continuing professional development (CPD).

Support with additional CPD can be found on the:

• CoSRH Contraception Provision Course for Pharmacy Professionals FSRH
• CPPE Contraception hub page and CPPE Emergency hormonal contraception hub page; and
• Pharmacy courses page of the Health Academy website.

Pharmacy team training 

The whole pharmacy team can proactively promote this service. Teams should be briefed on the service and coached on how to best approach people about the service.  A pharmacy team briefing on the service and a briefing providing top tips when providing the service is available to assist pharmacy owners to engage and coach their team members. 

Pharmacy staff who are going to provide blood pressure measurements and BMI calculations must have the necessary training required to undertake blood pressure readings and measure an individual’s weight and height. These staff must: 

• Be familiar with the appropriate sections of NICE guideline Hypertension in adults: diagnosis and management [NG136]; 
• Have read and understood the operational processes to provide blood pressure and BMI measurements; and 
• Have completed the recommended training on how to use the blood pressure monitoring equipment which should be provided by the equipment manufacturer/supplier. 

 Sexual Health Services

In some cases, irrespective of the outcome of the consultation, it may be appropriate to also signpost the person accessing the service to another healthcare provider e.g. the possible need for screening for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). You must ensure the individual has contact details of any appropriate local services/sexual health service.

For Brighton & Hove pharmacies, please signpost here.

For West Sussex Pharmacies, please signpost here.

For East Sussex Pharmacies, please signpost here.

For Surrey Pharmacies, please signpost here.

Community Pharmacy Surrey and Sussex hosted a webinar to support contractors with implementing the service. During the webinar we had two pharmacists speak on how they have successfully implemented the service along with some top tips. If you missed the webinar and would like some support, please watch the webinar here.