This page contains information about the Children’s Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Service.
It is to be commissioned as an Advanced service for a one-season trial of administering flu vaccinations to children aged 2-3 years from 1st October 2025.
The impact of community pharmacy participation in this vaccination programme will be evaluated after the 2025/26 season to inform policy decisions around whether the service will be commissioned in future years.
Read our news story on the announcement of the service
Click here if you are looking for information on the Adult Flu Vaccination Service
Click on a heading below for more information
Background and aims of the service
The aim of the seasonal influenza vaccination programme is to protect those who are most at risk of serious illness or death should they develop influenza, by offering protection against the most prevalent strains of influenza virus.
It helps to reduce unplanned hospital admissions and pressures on urgent and emergency care and as such it is a key factor in the resilience of the NHS during winter.
Vaccinating eligible children not only provides individual protection for the child but can help reduce transmission of the disease to the wider population, including those who are at higher risk of getting seriously ill from flu.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England continue to seek to improve on the uptake rates for all flu vaccinations, including the vaccination of children. UKHSA data shows a drop in overall vaccination uptake rates of children aged 2 and 3 years in the 2024/25 season compared to the 2023/24 season.
Last season, the eligible cohort of children was around 1.2 million and the UKHSA data shows the following uptake rates for children:
Aged 2 and 3 years combined was 42.6% compared with 44.4% in 2023/24
Aged 2 years was 41.7 % compared with 44.1% in 2023/24
Aged 3 years was 43.5% compared with 44.6% in 2023/24
To improve access and uptake, NHS England has decided to commission a new Advanced service for community pharmacies to provide seasonal influenza vaccinations to all children aged 2 and 3 years of age on 31st August 2025.
NHS England is seeking pharmacies to sign up to provide the service to offer good coverage across the whole country. The impact of community pharmacy participation in this vaccination programme will be evaluated after the 2025/26 season to inform policy decisions around whether the service will be commissioned in future years.
Community Pharmacy England’s view on this new Advanced service
Following negotiations with NHS England, we agreed to a one-season trial of the new service in 2025/26.
The commissioning of this new service is fully aligned with NHS England’s vaccination strategy, the Government’s recently published 10 Year Plan for Health in England and the community pharmacy sector’s strong desire to provide more NHS vaccination programmes.
We were pleased to be able to agree this new Advanced service as a trial for one season, and we are confident that pharmacy teams will be able to increase vaccination rates by providing a convenient and accessible service to parents/guardians and their eligible children.
It represents another strategically important step towards community pharmacies being able to support the delivery of all NHS vaccination programmes. However, pharmacy owners will need to reflect on the size of the eligible cohort of children before they decide to opt to provide the service.
Service specification
Service specification for the Childhood Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Advanced Service 2025/26 (published 23rd July 2025)
The service specification describes the requirements for provision of the service and it is essential reading for all pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other vaccinators providing the service.
Patient Group Direction
The Patient Group Direction (PGD) provides the legal mechanism for administration of flu vaccines under the service.
A PGD to cover the administration of both LAIV and IIVc is being developed by UKHSA and it will be published shortly.
The practitioners who can legally administer under the PGD will be listed in the Qualifications and professional registration section of the PGD and this will mirror the groups of practitioners authorised to supply or administer medication via a PGD under current legislation.
That means the service will generally be provided by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians within community pharmacies, but other registered healthcare professionals able to operate under a PGD may also administer vaccines.
Any listed practitioners must provide the service under the oversight of the Responsible Pharmacist at the pharmacy.
The PGD cannot be used to authorise administration of flu vaccines under any other NHS or private services.
Appropriately trained practitioners, who will administer flu vaccines under the authority of the PGD must:
Download a copy of the latest version of the PGD from the NHS England website;
Read the PGD and ensure they fully understand its content, including the eligible patient groups, the inclusion and exclusion criteria and the record keeping requirements; and
Print off a copy of the PGD and complete the Practitioner declaration to confirm they have read and understood the content of the PGD and that they are willing and competent to work to it within their professional code of conduct.
If there is more than one practitioner in the community pharmacy or working with the community pharmacy who will be providing the vaccination service, one copy of the PGD can be printed and all practitioners can complete the practitioner declaration on this one copy.
The Authorising Manager declaration must then be completed. The Authorising Manager’s role is to confirm the practitioner(s):
Is/are aware of the service specification and requirements for provision of the service;
Have demonstrated their competence to provide the service; and
Has/have the organisation’s approval to provide the service.
In certain circumstances, for example, a community pharmacy where the pharmacist who will administer vaccines is also the superintendent pharmacist or pharmacy owner, it may be necessary for the authorising manager to be the same person as the practitioner, though this situation should be avoided wherever possible.
These steps must be completed before an individual practitioner is authorised to administer flu vaccines as part of the service.
Once published, any questions on the PGD should be emailed to england.communitypharmacy@nhs.net.
Pharmacy sign-up process
Pharmacy owners who wish to provide the service, should first read the service specification to ensure they are able to meet NHS England’s minimum requirements as specified in the service specification. These include:
Providing at least one NHS commissioned vaccination service and one service that involves the assessment or treatment of children (for example, the NHS Pharmacy First Service).
Staff who will provide the service must have an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate, with checks against the adult and children’s barred list.
The pharmacy must register for access to NHS England’s Federated Data Platform (FDP) to manage their vaccine orders and submit stocktakes for the service.
Offering appointments for the service through the National Booking Service (NBS) to patients. This will require:
Accurate information and timely publication of appointment or clinic times to allow patient bookings to take place.
At least 20 appointments being listed in the first month after the pharmacy owner’s service commencement date.
At least 10 appointments being listed per month after the first month to demonstrate continued service provision.
Maintaining available appointments times throughout the pharmacy’s full opening hours, including late afternoons and Saturdays (where the pharmacy owner is open on Saturdays).
Pharmacies must administer at least 10 vaccines between October 2025 and January 2026 (or pro-rata for contractors who sign up later in the season).
Pharmacy owners who feel they can meet the requirements set out in the service specification and who are confident they can support access to the eligible patients are encouraged to consider how they could provide this service alongside their existing vaccination services.
We also recommend that pharmacy owners consider the size of the eligible cohort of children before they decide to opt to provide the service. Last season, the eligible cohort of children was around 1.2 million and the UKHSA data shows the uptake rate for 2-3 year old children was 42.6%.
Pharmacy owners that choose to sign up to provide the service will be able to do so via the NHSBSA’s Manage your service (MYS) portal from 1st August 2025.
In order to receive vaccine ahead of the start of the service on 1st October 2025, pharmacy owners will need to register on MYS by 23:59 on 31st August 2025.
Later registration after 31st August 2025 will be possible, but the provision of the centrally procured vaccine will be received after the starting date for the service.
The final deadline to register to provide the service is 23:59 on 30th November 2025. If a pharmacy owner doesn’t register by this date, they will not be able to provide the service in 2025/26.
Service start date and duration
The Annual flu letter confirms and authorises vaccination of all children aged 2 or 3 years by general practices.
An Update to the Annual flu letter was published on 28th July 2025 to add the vaccination of this cohort via the community pharmacy service.
The pharmacy service is intended to supplement the existing general practice offer (which commences on 1st September).
The pharmacy service will begin on 1st October 2025 for pharmacies registered to provide the service at that point.
NHS England is asking participating pharmacies to maximise administration of the vaccine by 30th November 2025.
They also note in the service specification, that following 30th November 2025, where an eligible patient presents for vaccination, it is generally appropriate to still offer it; this is particularly important if it is a late influenza season.
In the event that an eligible patient is in one of the at-risk groups and presents late in the flu season after all LAIV stock has expired, immunisation with an appropriate inactivated influenza vaccine is an option.
NHS England advise that vaccinators should apply clinical judgement to assess the needs of patients for immunisation. The decision to vaccinate should take into account the level of flu-like illness in the community and the fact that the immune response to influenza vaccination takes about 2 weeks to fully develop.
The service will close on 31st March 2026.
Eligible patients
The Annual flu letter and the Update to the Annual flu letter confirm the eligible patient cohorts for the 2025/26 season.
The service covers all children aged 2 and 3 years of age on 31st August 2025 – that means children who were born on or after 1st September 2021 and on or before 31st August 2023.
All children aged less than 2 years of age or aged four years or over on 31st August 2025 are not covered by the service.
Pharmacy owners are not authorised to administer flu vaccines to other patient groups as part of the Childhood Flu Vaccination Service.
If a vaccine is administered to patients in other groups, the pharmacy owner will not be paid for that vaccination and the administration will have been undertaken outside the legal authority of the PGD.
Vaccines for use in the service
The Annual Flu letter and the Update to the Annual flu letter confirms the vaccines to be used in the service.
Patients who are in clinical risk groups and who have not received influenza vaccination previously, will require a second dose of the appropriate vaccine at least 4 weeks after the first dose.
First line vaccine
The majority of eligible children will be vaccinated with Live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) nasal spray suspension which is the first line vaccine.
If a pharmacy does not have stock of LAIV when a patient presents, the parent/guardian should be directed to an alternative provider who has stock of LAIV or they should be asked to rebook when further stock will be available at the pharmacy.
LAIV will be supplied by NHS England to pharmacies from centrally procured stock. This will be undertaken through the NHS England Federated Data Platform (FDP), rather than by UKHSA through ImmForm.
The FDP is the national data platform managed by NHS England that hosts the vaccine supply and ordering tools that will be used for the service.
Pharmacy owners must register for access to FDP to be able to order vaccines. The platform will also include an element of service readiness assurance ahead of the commencement of the service and it will also be used for the submission of vaccine stocktakes.
Guidance on how to register to access the FDP
Pharmacy owners will be able to order a minimum quantity of 10 doses (1 pack) of centrally supplied LAIV from the FDP.
Participating pharmacies who register to provide the service on MYS by 31st August 2025 will receive vaccine supply by 1st October 2025 (the service commencement date).
Pharmacy owners may only request subsequent supply of LAIV when:
the pharmacy has recorded administration of at least 50% of the previously supplied doses; and
their current stock levels are confirmed to be below 1 pack; and
they have appointments listed on NBS, which comply with the requirements set out in the service specification (at least 20 appointments being listed in the first month after the pharmacy’s service commencement date and at least 10 appointments being listed per month after the first month): or
NBS booked appointments indicate a need for additional supply.
Any order placed by a pharmacy owner that does not meet the above requirements will be deferred until the pharmacy owner evidences they have been met.
All LAIV stock must be actively managed, with vaccine usage reported in the FDP in a timely manner. Pharmacy owners must not stockpile vaccine and are expected to utilise doses within the product shelf life.
Pharmacy owners must submit a valid stocktake in FDP within 7 days of any requests for additional vaccine; failure to report vaccine usage or stock levels accurately may result in temporary suspension of supply of the vaccine.
Pharmacy owners must take reasonable steps to reduce vaccine wastage and any that report more than 30% wastage (3 or more unused doses per pack not administered or salvaged within the shelf life) may have further supply withheld pending review by NHS England.
There is no reimbursement payment for vaccine stock that has been centrally procured, as it will be provided free-of-charge to pharmacy owners.
The manufacturer of the LAIV vaccine used in the NHS vaccination programme has a website for healthcare professionals, providing information on the product, including a video on how to administer the vaccine:
AstraZeneca Fluenz website for healthcare professionals
Second line vaccine
When LAIV is contraindicated or otherwise unsuitable (for example, where parents object to LAIV on the grounds of its porcine gelatine content), cell-cultured inactivated influenza vaccine (IIVc) should be used. Please note that in the Annual flu letter dated 13th February 2025, this vaccine was abbreviated as TIVc.
IIVc will not be centrally supplied and pharmacy owners should obtain supplies by placing an order via manufacturers or wholesalers, in line with their normal approach to purchasing flu vaccine. They will be reimbursed for any stock they have used appropriately within the service.
If the pharmacy contractor does not have IIVc in stock when required by a patient, parents/guardians should be directed to an alternative provider who has stock of IIVc or should be asked to rebook an appointment when stock is available at the pharmacy.
The reasons for use of the second line vaccine should be documented in the clinical record; evidence of this may be requested by NHS England before reimbursement is agreed.
The annual flu letter does include a third line vaccine, but this cannot be administered as part of this service.
Before providing the service
There are several conditions that are specified in the service specification which pharmacy owners must comply with prior to provision of the service. These include:
Pharmacy owners must be satisfactorily providing all Essential Services and be compliant with the clinical governance requirements of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).
Staff who will provide the service must be competent to provide the service (see section on training requirements and resources for further details).
Staff who will provide the service must have an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate, with checks against the adult and children’s barred list.
Other requirements or matters that pharmacy owners should consider before providing the service are detailed below.
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
Pharmacy owners must have an SOP in place for provision of the service, having regard to the requirements of the PGD and service specification, and which covers the following points as a minimum:
The provision of the service to patients and the roles of different staff members, including the training required for staff members;
The ongoing conditions under which the service needs to be provided (set out in the service specification);
Cold chain integrity;
Needle stick injuries;
The process for escalating any issues identified during provision of the service and signposting details that can be used to guide parents/guardians to further support, where needed;
The identification and management of adverse reactions;
Record keeping requirements;
The handling, removal and safe disposal of any clinical waste related to the provision of the service.
Premises requirements
The pharmacy must have a consultation room in which to provide the service, which meets the requirements of the Terms of Service.
The vaccination must take place in the consultation room wherever the patient’s parent or guardian expresses this preference.
Vaccinations can also be offered in any area of the pharmacy where suitable facilities are available, infection prevention and control standards can be maintained and patient confidentiality and dignity is able to be respected.
Pharmacy owners must appropriately dispose of any clinical waste or personal protective equipment (PPE) used during the vaccination process and will therefore need to ensure they have contracted for a suitable clinical waste disposal service for their pharmacy premises.
Professional oversight
The responsible pharmacist at the registered pharmacy premises is professionally responsible for overseeing this service.
If the responsible pharmacist is unable to provide sufficient oversight, for example due to workload or where vaccinations are undertaken off the pharmacy premises, an on-site pharmacist or pharmacy technician responsible for the delivery of the service must be linked and work closely with the Responsible Pharmacist and Superintendent Pharmacist through an appropriate governance framework to ensure appropriate oversight of the service.
National Booking Service (NBS)
NBS will be used by parents and guardians to book vaccination appointments at pharmacies.
Pharmacy owners must offer vaccinations through NBS to parents and guardians, and the service specification states that:
Accurate information must be published and appointment or clinic times be uploaded in a timely way to allow bookings to take place;
At least 20 appointments must be listed in the first month after the service commencement date;
At least 10 appointments must be listed per month after the first month to demonstrate continued service provision; and
Appointments should be available at various times throughout the pharmacy’s full opening hours, including late afternoons and Saturdays (where the pharmacy is open on Saturdays).
Further information on use of NBS will be provided by NHS England to pharmacies signing up to provide the service.
Additionally, the pharmacy owner must offer vaccinations through advertised walk-in clinics. The walk-in clinic times offered should promote access to the service, including late afternoons and Saturdays, where the pharmacy is open on Saturdays.
Pharmacy owners will be able to add the details of their walk-in clinic times via NHS Profile Manager.
Provision of the service off the pharmacy premises
Vaccinations can also be undertaken in other suitable locations, such as in the patient’s home or community venues (e.g. community centres).
Pharmacy owners must obtain consent from NHS England if they wish to carry out vaccinations at a location off the pharmacy premises.
There are various matters that a pharmacy owner will need to consider ahead of any provision of the service off the pharmacy premises, including:
Professional oversight: Where vaccinations are undertaken off the pharmacy premises, pharmacy owners must ensure there is an on-site pharmacist or pharmacy technician responsible for the delivery of the service (or delivering the vaccination service themselves) and who will ensure provision of the service is in line with the requirements of the service specification.
The setting used for vaccination: pharmacy owners must ensure that the setting used to administer the vaccinations is appropriate, including ensuring patient confidentiality and dignity.
Support staff: vaccinators should consider being accompanied by a trained pharmacy support staff member. The primary role of the support staff member would be to assist in the event of an emergency, but they could also undertake administrative tasks and, where necessary, act as a chaperone.
Clinical waste: pharmacy owners must appropriately dispose of any clinical waste or personal protective equipment (PPE) used during the vaccination process. That should include ensuring they meet the requirements of waste disposal legislation in relation to transferring pharmaceutical waste from the site of vaccination back to the pharmacy premises for subsequent safe disposal.
Maintaining the cold chain: vaccinators must ensure that the cold chain storage of the vaccines is maintained. Vaccines should be taken from the pharmacy fridge and placed into an appropriate validated cool box (which will maintain the vaccines at a temperature between 2˚C and 8˚C) just before travel to the off-site location.
The vaccines should be kept in their packaging and should be insulated from the cooling system within the cool box, e.g. using bubble wrap, to avoid the risk of freezing.
Professional standards: when considering any provision of flu vaccination services outside the pharmacy, pharmacy owners and their pharmacists/pharmacy technicians must ensure they continue to comply with all professional standards.
Any planning or risk assessments undertaken ahead of off-site provision need to keep these standards central to considerations of how to provide the service, as they will offer a useful framework to help decision making.
Indemnity insurance: pharmacy owners must ensure their professional indemnity cover applies to provision of the service off the pharmacy premises.
Training requirements and resources
Staff providing the service and administering vaccines will need to be authorised to operate under the PGD. That means the service will generally be provided by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians within community pharmacies, but other registered healthcare professionals able to operate under a PGD may also administer vaccines.
Any pharmacy staff involved in the provision of the service should receive appropriate training relevant to the role they will undertake and pharmacy owners are required to demonstrate that all staff providing the service in their pharmacy have the skills and knowledge needed to do so, including working within the relevant systems and processes set out by the pharmacy owner and understanding how to report concerns, should any be identified.
The content of training for vaccinators
Vaccinators providing the service must have undertaken appropriate training in line with the National minimum standards and core curriculum for vaccination training.
This document describes the training that should be given to all practitioners engaging in any aspect of immunisation so that they are able to confidently, competently and effectively promote and administer vaccinations.
The document was updated in June 2025 and replaces the previous training standards for registered healthcare practitioners and healthcare support workers.
Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other vaccinators who will administer flu vaccines must have completed practical training in vaccination that meets the requirements set out in the document.
They must also ensure they are competent to administer vaccines to children aged 2 and 3 years old using both LAIV and IIVc.
This may include the completion of the e-learning for health flu immunisation training for LAIV.
There are several organisations offering training and support for the provision of flu vaccination services and contact details can be found below.
The frequency of training
Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other vaccinators providing the service need to attend face-to-face refresher training periodically.
This refresher training should help to ensure consistency of practice, provide peer support and allow discussion of any clinical issues that are arising in practice.
Pharmacy owners and vaccinators will need to consider when it would be appropriate to attend refresher training or if ongoing competence of an individual vaccinator can be evidenced, without the need for face-to-face training.
An individual’s continued competence may be influenced by their prior experience vaccinating patients, including the overall number of vaccines administered and the regularity with which they administer vaccines.
Understanding the relevant clinical guidance
The service specification requires that the pharmacy owner ensures vaccinators have read and understood the clinical guidance available in relation to the service and that they have a process in place to check any updates to these documents.
The key sources of clinical guidance in relation to this service will be:
Immunisation against infectious disease: the green book (Chapter 19 Influenza)
The PGD for the service (which is currently being developed by UKHSA and which will be published shortly)
Annual update training
Vaccinators are expected to undertake annual update training, to ensure their knowledge stays up to date with changes in practice and guidance.
This may involve self-directed learning, using relevant references sources, such as the Green Book and the annual flu letter. It may also include online training which is available from a range of providers.
Assessment of vaccinator competency
The National minimum standards and core curriculum for vaccination training recommends that immunisers should keep a portfolio of completed competency checklists, knowledge test score sheets, reflective logs, completion of e-learning course certificates and certificates of attendance at immunisation training courses and updates.
This will provide vaccinators with a means to be able to show evidence of completion of training and achievement of competence to both current and future employers. It will also provide useful evidence of continuing professional development for professional revalidation.
Pharmacy owners must ensure that vaccinators are competent to provide the service and they must keep evidence of competency relating to any staff that they employ or engage to provide the service.
The Declaration of Competence (DoC) approach, using the Vaccination Services DoC (hosted on the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education website) is one way which pharmacy professionals providing the service can demonstrate their competence to the pharmacy owner.
Alternatively, the competence of any vaccinators can be assured using the National minimum standards and core curriculum for vaccination training competency assessment tool in appendix A of the guidance.
This can be used as a self-assessment tool, an assessment tool for use with a supervisor or both depending on the previous experience of the vaccinator.
The recommendations that accompany the assessment tool advise that all new flu vaccinators should complete the competency assessment for formal assessment and sign-off of their clinical competency.
Any flu vaccinators returning to vaccination after a prolonged interval should also complete appropriate update training and the appropriate vaccination competency assessment. As the circumstances and training needs for individual practitioners returning to vaccination will vary, there is no defined time interval for ‘prolonged’, but vaccinators and their supervisors need to be assured of their competence before they provide the service.
Training resources
e-Learning for Healthcare Flu Immunisation online course
This interactive flu immunisation e-learning programme, written by UKHSA and NHS England, is available for anyone involved in providing the flu vaccination programme.
The manufacturer of the LAIV vaccine used in the NHS vaccination programme has a website for healthcare professionals, providing information on the product, including a video on how to administer the vaccine:
AstraZeneca Fluenz website for healthcare professionals
Training providers
There are a number of organisations that provide vaccination training and those that we have been made aware of are listed below for information.
Listing on this page does not constitute endorsement of the course or provider by Community Pharmacy England.
AAH Pharmaceuticals (Account required)
Alliance Healthcare – Skills in Healthcare
National Pharmacy Association (Registration required)
Numark (Members only)
Guidance and resources for pharmacy teams
This section provides information on some of the practical requirements related to provision of the Children’s Flu Vaccination Service.
Patient consent
As with the provision of any pharmacy service, prior to vaccination, informed verbal consent must be sought from the parent/guardian of each patient for the administration of the vaccine.
Informed consent should be recorded in the pharmacy’s clinical record, including the name of persons that have consented on the patient’s behalf and that person’s relationship to the patient.
The General Pharmaceutical Council’s Guidance on Consent provides further information on consent for pharmacists and their teams.
The parent/guardian of each patient should also be advised of the information sharing that will take place for the appropriate recording of the vaccination in the patient’s GP practice record and information that will be shared with NHS England and the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) as part of post-payment verification.
Service records, IT support and sharing of data
Pharmacy owners must use an NHS-assured Point of Care System to record the administration of vaccinations.
For the 2025/26 flu vaccination season, NHS England has agreed to fund the cost of the Point of Care System, with pharmacy owners able to select a system of their choice from the list of NHS-assured systems.
Read more about the NHS-assured Point of Care Systems for recording vaccinations
For pharmacy owners already using an NHS-assured Point of Care System for the Adult Flu Vaccination Service, they will be able to use that IT system to record provisions of the Childhood Flu Vaccination service. The option to record administration of vaccine to children will be added to the flu vaccination modules in the Point of Care Systems at the time of launch of this service.
General requirements related to record keeping:
Pharmacy owners must maintain appropriate electronic records to ensure effective ongoing service delivery. Records must be managed in line with the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care.
Pharmacy owners must ensure that the vaccination event is recorded on the same day that it is administered unless exceptional circumstances apply.
Pharmacy owners must ensure vaccination records are complete and include all of the required fields about the patient.
Pharmacy owners must ensure that any staff recording the administration of the vaccination have received relevant training to be able to update records appropriately and accurately.
Where the Point of Care System is unavailable due to exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the pharmacy owner, then the record of vaccination events must be added to the it as soon as possible after the system becomes available again.
Where a record of a vaccination needs amending or has not been created on the point of care system, the pharmacy owner is responsible for undertaking the amendment or creation as soon as reasonably possible following notification from the patient or another healthcare professional that the record is not complete or correct.
Use of Point of Care IT systems:
There must be robust user and access management processes to ensure high levels of security in relation to staff access to the Point of Care System. That should include frequent updates to system access levels to add users who join the pharmacy team or remove accounts where staff leave or do not have shifts scheduled at the pharmacy.
Only one Point of Care System can be used to record vaccinations in any calendar month except where it is necessary to make amendments to previously recorded vaccination events or where this has been agreed with NHS England during the transition to a new Point of Care System.
Retention of records:
Records must be managed in line with the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care.
The necessary records required for reimbursement must be kept for a period of three years to demonstrate the service was delivered in accordance with the service specification, and to assist with PPV activities. These records must be provided by a pharmacy owners when requested by the NHSBSA Provider Assurance Team.
Pharmacy owners should ensure that clinical records for the service are retained for the appropriate period. This retention period may be beyond the specified period for PPV purposes and should be in line with both the requirements for the record type and the age of the person being vaccinated. You can find links to further guidance on this topic on our Data handling, record keeping and disposal webpage.
Sharing of data:
Data recorded via the Point of Care System regarding the patient’s vaccination will be shared with the patient’s registered general practice (where this is known) automatically on the day of provision or on the following working day. This will be sent as a structured message in real-time by the point of care system.
If the structured message system is not available or fails, the pharmacy contractor must ensure a copy of the vaccination notification is sent or emailed (via NHSmail) to the patient’s registered general practice as soon as reasonably possible.
Some of the data recorded in the Point of Care System will be shared via an application programming interface (API) with the NHSBSA’s MYS platform as part of normal payment arrangements.
Pharmacy owners must promptly comply with any reasonable request for information from NHS England (or an organisation acting on their behalf) relating to this service.
Personal data recorded in Point of Care Systems will flow to NHS England for managing and monitoring vaccination programmes; it will also be shared with the UKHSA under a Data Sharing Agreement.
Data that has been pseudonymised may be used by the NHS for evaluation and research purposes.
Storage of vaccines
Vaccines should be stored in line with the requirements set out by their manufacturer in the Summary of Product Characteristics.
In 2014, Public Health England issued guidance on the protocol for ordering, storing and handling vaccines for all healthcare providers involved in vaccinations, including community pharmacies.
All refrigerators in which vaccines are stored must have a maximum / minimum thermometer. Readings must be taken and recorded from the thermometer on all working days and appropriate action taken in a timely manner when readings are outside the recommended temperature range.
Information for parents/guardians
The parent/guardian of each patient being administered a vaccine should be given a copy of the manufacturer’s patient information leaflet about the vaccine or be directed to a web-based version of the leaflet.
Safeguarding
During the consultation, if there are concerns about a potential safeguarding issue, then appropriate action should be taken, where necessary, in line with local safeguarding processes.
Guidance on safeguarding can be found in NHS England’s Safeguarding App/website.
Your Local Pharmaceutical Committee may also have details of local safeguarding contacts on their website.
Clinical waste
Pharmacy owners are required to make arrangements for the removal and safe disposal of any clinical waste and PPE related to the provision of this service. This includes where vaccinations are carried out off-site or in a patient’s home.
Pharmacy owners must also ensure that staff are appropriately trained and made aware of the risks associated with the handling and disposal of clinical waste and that correct procedures are used to minimise those risks. A needle stick injury procedure must be in place.
Communicating and working with GP practices
When pharmacy teams provide the service, notifying the patient’s GP practice of the administration of the vaccine is an important service requirement.
Data recorded via the Point of Care IT System regarding the patient’s vaccination will be shared with the patient’s registered general practice automatically on the day of provision or on the following working day. This will be sent as a structured message in real-time by the point of care system.
If the structured message system is not available or fails, the pharmacy owner must ensure a copy of the vaccination notification is sent or emailed (via NHSmail) to the patient’s registered general practice as soon as reasonably possible.
Where a patient presents with an adverse drug reaction following the initial vaccination and the pharmacist believes this is of clinical significance, such that the patient’s GP practice should be informed, this information should be shared with the GP practice as soon as possible.
Dealing with local issues related to the service
Sometimes issues with the service may arise between GP practices and community pharmacies; in this situation pharmacy owners may wish to seek support and advice from their LPC.
Occasionally we receive reports of GP practices issuing information to their patients that unfairly or inaccurately represents the community pharmacy service. If this occurs, we advise pharmacy owners to raise the issue with the GP practice concerned. If that does not resolve the issue, pharmacy owners should raise the matter with the ICB primary care contracting team and their LPC.
Sometimes examples of such information get circulated via social media and other routes, which can create a larger issue from a single incident than may be warranted and it also potentially inspires others to copy the approach. We recommend that LPCs and pharmacy teams avoid sharing such matters via social media, as it will not help long term community pharmacy/GP relationships; incidents should be dealt with locally wherever possible.
Dealing with incidents arising from the provision of the service
If an incident occurs in relation to the service, pharmacy owners are required to report any patient safety incidents in line with the Clinical Governance Approved Particulars for pharmacies.
Where necessary, the pharmacy owner is also expected to follow UKHSA’s Vaccine incident guidance: responding to errors in vaccine storage, handling and administration.
Withdrawal from provision of the service
If the pharmacy owner wishes to stop providing the service, they must notify NHS England that they are no longer going to provide the service via the MYS platform, giving 30 days’ notice prior to the cessation of the service. They must continue to provide the service for the duration of the notice period. Pharmacy owners that de-register before the service commencement date are not required to give 30 days’ notice.
Pharmacy owners must ensure they update NBS and NHS Profile Manager when they cease provision of the service.
If a pharmacy owner de-registers from the service, they will be unable to re-register for a period of 4 months from the date of de-registration.
The deadline to register for this service is 23:59 on 30th November 2025; de-registering may mean that a pharmacy owner will be unable to re-register to provide the service in 2025/26.
Promoting the service to patients
NHS England is developing a communications campaign to highlight the new pharmacy offer to the patents/guardians of eligible children. This will include the development of communications assets which can be used locally and NHS England will also be seeking supportive national and local press coverage of the service once it commences in October.
National invitations to present for vaccination sent by NHS England to the parents/guardians of eligible children will include information about the pharmacy offer and details of how to book an appointment at a pharmacy via NBS.
Community Pharmacy England resources
Community Pharmacy England resources to assist with promoting for the service will be available soon.
UKHSA resources
Leaflets
Flu vaccination for children: leaflets and posters 2025 to 2026 (14th July 2025)
‘Protect your child against flu – information for parents and carers of children in primary school or pre-school’ leaflet. Paper copies of this leaflet are available to order for free or download on the Health Publications website using the product code 2025FCEN.
This leaflet is available to order and download in the following languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dari, Estonian, Farsi, French, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepali, Panjabi, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Romany, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Yiddish and Yoruba.
Accessible versions will soon be available to order and download.
Stickers
Free stickers are available to order using product code SCHFLSTK. These stickers are for healthcare practitioners to give to children who have received a flu vaccine. There are 72 stickers per sheet.
Posters
‘Five reasons to vaccinate your child against flu’ poster for primary schools and pre-schools is available to order using the product code FLU5RY24.
This poster is available in the following languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Estonian, Farsi, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Latvian, Lithuanian, Panjabi, Polish, Romanian, Romany, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu and Yiddish.
Developing your own marketing materials
If pharmacy owners decide to develop their own marketing materials to promote the service they must ensure they comply with the requirements of the Terms of Service relating to promotion of services funded by the NHS.
If pharmacy owners choose to use the NHS identity on their marketing materials they must follow the primary care guidelines for use of the NHS identity.
An A-Z style guide of words and phrases about health and the NHS, which aims to make content aimed at patients easy to understand, is available on the NHS website. The NHS website team try to use words on their website that people use themselves when they talk about their problems and when they search for information on the internet. Community pharmacy teams may wish to refer to the guide when producing their own health content or communication materials.
Pharmacy owners will be paid £9.58 for each vaccine administered.
This fee is funded from NHS vaccination budgets, not from the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework global sum.
LAIV is supplied free of charge and will not be reimbursed as part of this NHS Influenza Programme.
When LAIV is contraindicated or otherwise unsuitable, where pharmacy owners administer IIVc under the service, they will be reimbursed for the vaccine cost at the basic price (list price) of the individual vaccine administered and an allowance at the applicable VAT rate will also be paid.
Basic prices can be confirmed using the NHS Business Services Authority’s DM+D browser.
Claiming payment
The Point of Care IT System which pharmacy owners and their teams use to make a clinical record for the service will also populate a claim for payment, via an API within the NHSBSA’s MYS portal.
The transfer of data via the API happens throughout the month, as data is entered into the IT system. The service provisions will then be available to view in MYS from the 1st of the following month.
For example, service provisions in October will be available to view in MYS on 1st November. Pharmacy owners will need to log into the MYS platform to check that the data matches the details in their IT system, and they will then need to submit their claim for payment.
Pharmacy owners must claim payment within one month of, and no later than three months from the claim period for the chargeable activity provided.
Claims which relate to work completed more than three months after the claim period in question will not be paid and the pharmacy owner will not receive any payment for the administration of those vaccinations. The exception to this is where the submission of a claim was delayed by IT issues outside the pharmacy owner’s control (such as issues with the NHS approved API system used by the contractor or with the MYS portal). Such claims will be accepted outside the usual grace period within 12 months of the date by which the claim should have been submitted. This is subject to the NHSBSA receiving evidence of the IT issue, and only if investigation finds that the evidence demonstrates that the IT issue was outside the control of the contractor, and it delayed the claim submission.
Payments to pharmacy owners will be made monthly as part of their normal payment schedule.
Payment will only be made for flu vaccinations administered from the service commencement date onwards.
Provide feedback on national pharmacy services
At Community Pharmacy England, we are always keen to hear from pharmacy owners and their teams about how the provision of national pharmacy services is going, be that niggles with the way services are commissioned, a success story you want to share or something else.
Please click on the link below to share a success story where you have helped achieve a good outcome for a patient following a consultation for a national pharmacy service or to provide feedback on one of the services.
Provide feedback on national pharmacy services
For more information on this topic please email services.team@cpe.org.uk