NHS prescription charges in England will be frozen for the first time in three years, the Prime Minister announced today.

Patients will continue paying £9.90 to collect their medication from a pharmacy.

Campaigners have long called the fee patients must pay to secure certain drugs like warfarin or asthma inhalers an ‘unfair tax on health’.

England is the only country in the UK that still charges, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all ditching the charges over a decade ago.

The move could see patients save hundreds of pounds over the next year, given the fee for a single prescription typically rises around 30p each year. 

The charge was last frozen in 2022 for a year, to help ‘ease cost of living pressures’ — marking the first time the government did not impose an annual increase in 12 years.

The Government today said the move would save patients about £18 million next year while those already exempt from paying prescriptions would continue to be so. 

Announcing the freeze on a visit to a health centre in Rossendale, Lancashire, Sir Keir Starmer, said: ‘Today we are freezing prescription charges so that means they won’t go over £10 and that is really significant, because very many people have to pay for prescriptions.

Patients in England will continue paying £9.90 to collect their medication from a pharmacy 

‘There’s a sort of cost-of-living crisis that is still very challenging for people, so this is an important measure in that.

‘It’s not the only measure of course — we are taking steps on school uniforms to limit the cost of school uniforms, we’re driving up the minimum wage, we’ve got breakfast clubs coming on stream, that’s something we announced last week, which will save families about £450.

‘Each of these, in their incremental way, will ease the pressure that people feel because of the cost-of-living crisis.’

Prescription prices will remain at £9.90 per item while three-month and annual pre-payment certificates will also be frozen for 2025/26.

A three-month prescription pre-payment certificate (PPC) will cost £32.05, while a 12-month one will remain at £114.50.

The cost of the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) certificate has also been frozen.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘This Government’s plan for change will always put working people first and our moves today to freeze prescription charges will put money back into the pockets of millions of patients.

‘Fixing our NHS will be a long road — but by working closer with our pharmacies we’re saving money and shifting care to the community where it’s closer to your home.

Prescription prices will remain at £9.90 per item while three-month and annual pre-payment certificates will also be frozen for 2025/26 

‘We made the difficult but necessary choices at the budget to fund moves like this and change our NHS so it can once again be there for you when you need it.’

There are few pay exemptions for patients in England, including for those aged 16-18 and in full-time education or patients once they turn 60.

Drugs like contraception are almost always free too.

Approximately £600million is generated each year in revenue from prescription charges in England for the delivery of NHS services. 

The freeze also comes just weeks after a record £617 million investment was pledged to boost community pharmacies across the country. 

Pharmacy leaders today welcomed the move but urged the Government to go one step further and abolish the charge altogether.  

Nick Kaye, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association, which represents around 6,000 independent pharmacies in the UK, said: ‘It is good news for patients and pharmacies that the Government has taken the step to freeze the prescription charge today for the first time in three years.

‘However, we’ve long called for the prescription charge to be scrapped, which acts as a barrier to some patients accessing vital medication and this is something we’d urge the Government to work towards.

‘As pharmacists, we are health care professionals and have no interest in being tax collectors.’

According to charity Age UK, in England, more than one in 10 people aged over 65 take at least eight different prescribed medications each week. 

This increases to nearly one in four people aged over 85.