Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS)
PQS 2026/27
Full details of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2026/27, worth £20 million, are now available. Pharmacy owners wishing to claim an Aspiration Payment will be able to do so between 13th and 28th July 2026, with a declaration period in February 2027.
To support pharmacy owners and their teams, CPE has published a range of resources, including a list of important dates, checklist, action plan templates, and training record sheets. Further support materials will be available soon.
Read the full details of the 2026/27 scheme and access the resources here.
PQS 2026/27 – Get your Gateway Criterion Sorted Now!
There are three parts to the gateway criterion that must be met to qualify for payments under the Pharmacy Quality Scheme.
- Complete the PEoLC (Palliative End of Life Care) questionnaire in Manage Your Service (MYS).
- Confirm status as a Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder via NHS Profile Manager.
- Complete your PEoLC action plan.
To qualify for the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2026/27 payment, pharmacy owners must meet all three parts of the gateway criterion.
For more information and materials to support your claim, see the document below.
PQS 2026/27 – Gateway Criterion Information
PQS 2026/27 – November Update: Don’t Leave it too Late!
Please see below a summary of the action’s pharmacy contractors need to complete ahead of the 31st March 2027 deadline. The requirements are not too onerous, but will need some time allocated to complete, so some forward planning is necessary:
Domain 1 – Medicines Optimisation & Patient Safety
Quality criterion a) Respiratory: Asthma Guidelines – By 31st March 2027, all pharmacists working in the pharmacy on the day of the declaration must have completed either:
- The CPPE Asthma for Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 e-learning programme here; or
- Unit 4 of the CPPE Fundamentals of Respiratory Therapeutics e-learning programme (since 19 February 2025);
and passed the Asthma e-assessment between 19th February 2025 and 31st March 2027.
Pharmacy owners must retain evidence demonstrating that all pharmacists working on the day of the declaration have completed the required training. Resources can be found below:
Training record sheet 2026/27 (PDF)
Training record sheet 2026/27 (Word)
Domain 1 – Medicines Optimisation & Patient Safety
Quality criterion b) Safe Management of Urgent Repeat Medicines Supply Requests and Referrals – Pharmacy owners must ensure they have appropriate procedures to follow if the pharmacy is unable to respond to requests and/or referrals for urgent supplies of time critical medicines and with specific guidance about the supply of Controlled Drugs in line with regulations.
By the end of 31st March 2027, pharmacy owners must have updated all relevant standard operating procedures (SOPs). The updated SOPs must contain guidance on:
- How urgent requests for time-critical medicines are dealt with.
- How urgent requests for Controlled Drugs are managed in line with regulations.
See the CPE Briefing for more information here.
Domain 2 – Professional Practice
Clinical Services Audit – Pharmacy owners must complete a clinical audit, which will be on the quality of Pharmacy First clinical pathways consultations to develop an action plan for improving practice. In addition to a pharmacist completing the audit, pharmacy owners will be expected to ensure the pharmacist completes a peer discussion (approximately 1 to 2 hours) focused on reviewing the findings of the audit and the action plan, with a ‘buddy’ pharmacist.
The clinical services audit document here explains how to undertake the audit and peer discussion using the associated data collection and analysis form.
The audit must be carried out with a minimum of 10 patients. Pharmacy owners should make a record of the start and end date of the audit as they will be required to enter this information into the MYS application when they make their declaration.
Data should be submitted using the data collection tool on the MYS portal.
No patient identifiable data should be entered onto the MYS data collection tool.
CPPE – Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) Tracker and e-Learning!
The CPPE PQS webpage has also been updated the reflect the new PQS 2026/27. This will support you in achieving criteria relating to the Medicines Optimisation and Patient Safety Domain in the PQS 2026/27. Once logged in, your PQS progress will be shown which can help you quickly determine whether you have completed the assessment within the validity period.
CPCF and PQS 2026/27 – New VirtualOutcomes e-Learning Training Module
VirtualOutcomes has released an e-Learning module on the new Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) and Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) for 2026/27. This module will help you and your team understand the new funding arrangements for 2026/27, understand the new PQS and what you need to do to meet the Gateway Criterion and the criteria that make up the two Domains. See more information in the flyer below.
CPCF and PQS 2026/27 – e-Learning Flyer
More information can be found on the VirtualOutcomes website here.
Previous Pharmacy Quality Schemes
Outcomes for previous Pharmacy Quality Schemes can be found on the Community Pharmacy England website here.
Last Updated: 2nd September 2026
