Overview

• Prescription charges in England will remain at £9.90 per item for 2025/26, avoiding an increase for the first time since 2022.
• Three-month and annual Prescription Prepayment Certificates (PPCs) are also frozen at £32.05 and £114.50, respectively.
• The freeze, announced days before local elections, is part of Labour’s broader ‘Plan for Change’ to address the cost-of-living crisis.
• The measure is estimated to save patients £18 million next year, offering financial relief to those who regularly pay for prescriptions.
• England remains the only UK nation with prescription charges, as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland abolished the fees years ago.