Document library
Every official document that governs the money in a dispensing practice, on one page. Each entry says who publishes it and when you would need it, and the link takes you straight there.
This page is a signposting aid: every link goes to the official publisher's own document, and those publishers remain the authority on their content. Nothing here is legal or financial advice. If a link looks wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
We check every link on this page once a day and show the date it last answered. Where a publisher dates its document we show that too; most of these are pages the publisher keeps current rather than dated documents, so most entries show only our check date.
Drug Tariff
The month's reimbursement prices and the rules behind them.
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Drug Tariff
Start here for this month's Tariff, including Part II, which sets out how your dispensing is paid for.
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Drug Tariff Part VIII
When you want the basic reimbursement price of a generic (Part VIIIA) or a special container (Part VIIIB).
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NHS Electronic Drug Tariff
When you need to read a Part of the Tariff in full online rather than download it.
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Drug Tariff updates
When you want to know what changed in the Tariff this month before it hits your figures.
Price concessions
What happens when a generic cannot be bought at the Tariff price.
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Price concessions
When a line has gone short and you want to see whether a concession price has been granted this month.
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How the price change mechanism works
When you want to understand why a concession appears, how it is decided and when it lapses.
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Report products purchased over Drug Tariff price
When you have paid more than the Tariff price for a generic and want that reported so a concession can be considered.
Category M
The scheme that sets most generic reimbursement prices, and how the margin is recovered.
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Category M prices in Drug Tariff Part VIIIA
When you want the current Category M reimbursement prices and the announcement of the next change.
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Retained margin (Category M)
When you want to understand why Category M prices move the way they do, and what retained margin means.
Your monthly paperwork
PD4, PxQ, FP34 and the endorsements that decide what you are paid.
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Dispensing doctor and personal administration payments
When you want the official account of how a dispensing practice and its personally administered items are paid.
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Electronic payment schedules
When you need to find, download or make sense of your monthly payment schedule.
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Understanding your FP34 Schedule of Payments
When you are reading an FP34 line by line and want to know what each figure on it actually is.
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Endorsement guidance
When a line was paid at the wrong price and you need to check how it should have been endorsed.
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Information Services Portal (ISP)
When you want your own practice's dispensing and prescribing data rather than a national figure.
Fees and allowances
The dispensing fee scale, the VAT allowance and this year's contract changes.
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General Medical Services Statement of Financial Entitlements Directions
When you need the fee scale and allowances in the instrument that actually sets them, including amendments.
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GP Contract
When you want this year's contract changes and the funding decisions behind a change in your fees.
SLS and Part XVIIIB
Drugs that may only be prescribed in stated circumstances, and the SLS endorsement.
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What is the Selected List Scheme (SLS)?
When you want the plain account of what SLS means and who has to add the endorsement.
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Schedule 2, NHS (General Medical Services Contracts) (Prescription of Drugs etc.) Regulations 2004
When you need the legal source of the Part XVIIIB list and the exact circumstances a drug may be ordered in.
Dispensing rights and premises
Who may dispense, where, and how outline consent and premises approval work.
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Part 8 (Dispensing doctors), NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013
When a question turns on outline consent, premises approval, a relocation or an amalgamation.
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Primary medical services policy and guidance manual (PGM)
When you want NHS England's own guidance on how dispensing applications and decisions are handled.
Who to ask
The organisations that answer dispensing money questions.
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Contact the Dispensing Doctors' Association
When you want the body that represents dispensing practices, on anything from a dispensing right to a payment dispute.
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Contact NHS Prescription Services
When a payment, a price or a prescription submission looks wrong and you need the people who processed it.
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Contact Community Pharmacy England
When your question is about the price concession list itself, which Community Pharmacy England publishes. It represents community pharmacy contractors, not dispensing practices.
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Contact Primary Care Support England (PCSE)
When the question is about supplies, forms or practice administration rather than pricing.