Javid freezes prescriptions price to ease cost of living crisis

Change to remain same for a year, as Health Secretary wants to ‘put money back in people’s pockets’

THE price of NHS prescriptions will be frozen for a year to help with the cost of living crisis, ministers have announced.

It means the price of a single prescription in England will remain at £9.35, while a three-month prescription prepayment certificate (PPCs) will stay at £30.25.

The cost normally rises in line with inflation, but Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said that the charge will remain the same to “put money back in people’s pockets”.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the freeze means people in England who normally pay for prescriptions would save £17 million overall.

Twelve-month PPCs will remain at £108.10 and can be paid for in instalments.

Mr Javid said: “The rise in the cost of living has been unavoidable as we face global challenges and the repercussions of Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine.

“Whilst we can’t completely prevent these rises, where we can help, we absolutely will.

“This is why I am freezing prescription charges to help ease some of these pressures and put money back in people’s pockets.”

Last night’s announcement comes in the wake of severe criticism for wastefulness in NHS prescribing.

In February, the Telegraph revealed that it was doling out up to 10,000 prescriptions a day on drugs that are so unsafe, ineffective or overpriced that they were banned.

Data showed almost £70 million annual spending on drugs deemed “potentially harmful” to patients, including deadly painkillers

The move comes after Boris Johnson told ministers to come up with measures to ease the pressure on household budgets due to soaring global prices.

Following the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday, the Prime Minister chaired the first meeting of the Government’s cost of living committee.

He urged ministers to be as “creative as possible” with ideas to help hardpressed families, which would not require fresh Treasury funding.

DHSC has already said that it will delay a ban on supermarket two-fordeals offers on unhealthy and fattening foods – to the dismay of health campaigners.

Mr Johnson, meanwhile, has told ministers to draw up plans to shed 90,000 civil service jobs over the next three years. This would take the workforce back down to where it was before the pandemic.

But with the Bank of England forecasting that inflation this year will reach double digits, the Government is likely to remain under pressure to go further.

Since the Conservatives lost nearly 500 seats in the local council elections earlier this month, some Tories have been calling for tax cuts as the only way to deliver real help to those who are struggling.

Meanwhile, ministers have been resisting calls for a windfall tax on the profits of the energy companies which have been swollen by rising oil and gas prices, warning of the impact on investment in new “green” technologies.

However, in a sign their opposition may be weakening, Mr Johnson said that the Government will “have to look at it”.

Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, said he would be “pragmatic”.

‘Whilst we can’t completely prevent the rise [in the cost of living], where we can help, we absolutely will’