NHS England is to make an additional payment to pharmacies in March payments, PSNC says.

The payment will be calculated as an additional fee for each pharmacy, based on professional fee numbers. The fee will be 3.3p for each professional fee paid from April 2014 to December 2014.

This additional fee is paid in recognition of the reduction in margin available to contractors in the early months of this financial year.

As part of the 2014-15 community pharmacy contractual framework it had been agreed that pharmacies would be allowed to retain £800 million of margin income and, whilst the final outcome of the margin survey will not be known until later in this calendar year, early analysis indicates that this total is unlikely to be reached.

In a joint statement, PSNC and NHS England said: "It remains our intention to smooth the delivery of funding to community pharmacy contractors as much as possible. This additional fee has been agreed in light of the predicted under delivery of margin in 2014-15."

PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe added: "The payment announced today will be a welcome bonus for contractors. Financial pressures and income volatility continue to be a problem, driven by the instability of prices and supplies. PSNC is pleased that we were able to secure this payment in advance of the final reconciliation of figures for margin earned in the financial year."