Every April, the Department of Health and Social Care reviews prescription charges, and they usually go up. Not this year. The charge was frozen at £9.90 per item for 2026/27, and the prepayment certificates were frozen with it. Here is where that leaves the figures, and what to do about them.
A Quick History of How We Got Here
Prescription charges started in 1952 at one shilling per item: five pence in today's money. They've climbed pretty much every year since, with the odd freeze when it was politically convenient.
Recent trajectory: £9.35 in April 2022, £9.65 in April 2023, then £9.90 from 1 May 2024. Typically the rise is 15 to 30 pence each April. But £9.90 has now held through 2025/26 and 2026/27, so the charge has not moved for over two years. Two consecutive freezes is genuinely unusual.
England is the only UK nation still charging. Wales scrapped charges on 1 April 2007, Northern Ireland in 2010 and Scotland on 1 April 2011. Worth knowing: entitlement follows where the prescription is dispensed, not where you live, so an English prescription dispensed in England still costs £9.90 even if you live in Cardiff. There's been debate about England following suit, but with the charges generating roughly 600 million pounds a year, it doesn't look likely any time soon. Meanwhile, research shows some English patients skip collecting medications because of the cost. That ends up costing the NHS more in the long run through worse health outcomes and hospital admissions.
Current Charges: 2026/27
Here's what you're paying right now. Every one of these figures is unchanged from last year:
| Item | Current Cost |
|---|---|
| Single prescription item | £9.90 |
| 3-month PPC | £32.05 |
| 12-month PPC | £114.50 |
| 12-month PPC (monthly DD) | £11.45 x 10 |
| 12-month HRT PPC | £19.80 |
Source: NHS.UK prescription charges and GOV.UK, get a prepayment certificate. PPCs are available only if you live in England.
What Actually Happened in April 2026
Nothing, and that is the point. The freeze was announced in the Budget on 21 November 2025: the single-item charge stays at £9.90, and the three-month and twelve-month prepayment certificates were frozen for 2026/27 alongside it. No amending regulations were made in 2026, so the amounts set by the 2024 regulations still stand.
Put in context, the charge would be somewhere north of £10.30 by now had the usual 15 to 30 pence annual increase continued through 2025 and 2026. If you collect 36 items a year, the two freezes together are worth roughly £15 against that counterfactual, and more if you pay per item rather than holding a PPC.
The obvious caveat: a freeze is a decision taken one year at a time, not a policy change. There is nothing stopping a rise in April 2027. The figures above are the ones in force now, and the current amounts are always on NHS.UK.
The HRT Prepayment Certificate
Worth knowing about separately, because it is much cheaper and a lot of people who qualify have never heard of it. The HRT PPC costs £19.80 for 12 months and covers an unlimited number of qualifying hormone replacement therapy items for that period, however many different medicines you are prescribed. It pays for itself at more than two qualifying items a year, so at roughly a fifth of the price of a standard 12-month PPC it is almost always the right call if HRT is what you collect. It only covers listed HRT products, so check your specific medicine against the NHSBSA list. If you also collect non-HRT prescriptions, you may want both certificates.
What This Means If You Pay for Prescriptions
Three medications collected monthly is 36 items a year, which is £356.40 at £9.90 each. A 12-month PPC at £114.50 covers the lot, so the saving is £241.90. That gap is unchanged from last year, which is the practical upshot of the freeze.
The people hit hardest are those just above the threshold for free prescriptions. You don't qualify for any exemption, but you're not exactly rolling in it either. Prescription costs can become a real percentage of disposable income. The NHS Low Income Scheme is supposed to help here, but barely anyone knows about it and the application form is a slog.
Does the PPC Breakeven Point Change?
No. Because the charge and both certificates were frozen together, the break-even points are exactly where they were. A 3-month PPC pays for itself at four items in three months (£32.05 divided by £9.90 is 3.24). A 12-month PPC pays for itself at 12 items in a year (£114.50 divided by £9.90 is 11.57, and you can't buy half a prescription). NHS.UK puts the same thresholds the other way round: a PPC saves you money if you need more than three items in three months, or more than eleven in a year.
The bottom line doesn't change either way: regular prescriptions plus no exemption equals get a PPC. The 12-month is best value for ongoing medication, and the monthly Direct Debit option means you don't need to find 114.50 upfront.
Electronic Prescriptions and the NHS App
One thing that IS improving: the digital side. Most prescriptions now go electronically from your GP straight to your pharmacy. You can nominate a preferred pharmacy so everything arrives automatically. No more losing paper prescriptions.
The NHS App lets you order repeats, see your prescription history, and set reminders for renewals. It won't save you money on charges directly, but it does make it much easier to track how many items you're actually getting, which is the key number for deciding whether a PPC makes financial sense.
Contraceptive Prescriptions
All contraception prescriptions are free in England. Every form: pill, patches, rings, emergency contraception. No age limit, no income check, no exemption needed. If a pharmacy tries to charge you, that's wrong. Push back.
Hospital vs. Community Pharmacy
Outpatient prescriptions from hospital pharmacies are free. Community pharmacy prescriptions cost £9.90 per item. If a hospital doctor offers you a choice of where to collect, the hospital pharmacy saves you money. Some hospitals are pushing patients toward community pharmacies via electronic prescriptions, so ask whether you can get it dispensed on site before you leave. Could save you a tenner per item.
Wigs and Fabric Supports
These have their own charges, separate from prescriptions. A full surgical wig is £76.40, a partial wig £31.20, and fabric supports (abdominal, spinal) cost £46.80 per item. These were set by the same 2024 regulations as the prescription charge and were not amended in 2026, so they are unchanged too.
Will England Ever Scrap Charges?
It's the question everyone keeps asking. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, BMA, and patient groups all want charges abolished. The argument is straightforward: charges stop people collecting medications they need, which leads to worse health, more A&E visits, and more hospital admissions: all of which cost the NHS far more than the 600 million a year it collects from prescription charges.
Scotland and Wales both found that abolishing charges didn't lead to a spike in overall prescription volume. People didn't suddenly start hoarding pills they didn't need. They just stopped skipping the ones they did need.
But 600 million is 600 million. Finding that money elsewhere is a genuine challenge, especially right now. So don't hold your breath.
What You Can Do Right Now
The charge is frozen, not abolished, so these steps still save you money:
- Check if you qualify for free prescriptions. Seriously, do it. Our eligibility checklist covers every category. You might be surprised.
- Get a PPC. If you're on regular meds and don't qualify for free ones, this is a no-brainer. Use our calculator to check the numbers.
- Look into the NHS Low Income Scheme. Low income but no qualifying benefits? Form HC1 could get you free or reduced-cost prescriptions. An HC2 certificate means free prescriptions; an HC3 only reduces some other health costs. The capital limits are £16,000, or £23,250 if you live permanently in a care home.
- If you take HRT, get the HRT PPC. £19.80 for 12 months, versus £114.50 for the standard one.
- Ask about generics. This doesn't reduce your prescription charge, but asking your GP about generic alternatives helps the NHS stretch its budget further.
- Talk to your pharmacist. For minor ailments, pharmacists can sometimes recommend over-the-counter alternatives that cost less than a prescription charge.
The next review is due in April 2027. Until then, run your numbers through our prescription calculator and make sure you're not spending more than you need to.