Insight · ARRS
ARRS Funding 2026/27 — everything PCNs need to know.
What is ARRS?
ARRS — the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme — is the funding NHS England provides to PCNs to reimburse specific clinical roles under the Network Contract DES. For most PCNs it's the single biggest source of staffing capacity, and clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are two of the most heavily-used roles within it.
What ARRS covers in 2026/27
Eligible pharmacy roles.
- Clinical pharmacists (including independent prescribers)
- Pharmacy technicians
- Designated Prescribing Practitioners (DPPs) for trainee IPs
- Supervision time, where evidenced against Annex B
What ARRS does NOT cover
Common gotchas.
- Locum pharmacist day-rates outside the ARRS framework
- Hospital-employed pharmacist time on hospital rotas
- Pharmacist roles without documented supervision
- Indemnity and governance not evidenced to ARRS standard
Underspend
If you have ARRS underspend.
Unspent ARRS allocation is forfeited at year-end. Most PCNs underspending in March discover it too late to recruit a substantive role. A managed provider can mobilise pharmacist or technician capacity in weeks — converting unused reimbursement into measurable patient impact before the deadline. BCS regularly mobilises against year-end underspend.
- Mobilisation in 4–6 weeks (often faster for cover)
- ARRS-compliant role design from day one
- Outcomes evidenced for IIF and QOF reporting
- Cost neutral against your existing allocation
Supervision
Annex B supervision — the requirement that catches PCNs out.
ARRS pharmacist roles require evidenced clinical supervision — not just an employment line manager. PCNs that recruit solo into the role often struggle to evidence weekly clinical supervision from a senior pharmacist. A managed provider builds this in by default: every BCS pharmacist has documented supervision from one of our senior pharmacists in London or Halifax.
2026/27 changes
What's actually changed for ARRS this year.
The 2026/27 contract carries forward the broad ARRS envelope but tightens the operational expectations placed on PCNs. The clearest changes affecting clinical pharmacist deployment are: stricter evidence requirements around supervision and continuing professional development, a sharper focus on outcomes that tie back to QOF and IIF indicators, and a more active stance from ICBs on how unused allocation is recycled within the financial year.
In practical terms this means a PCN can no longer rely on a single recruited pharmacist with informal supervision and a vague monthly catch-up. Commissioners increasingly expect to see a defined supervision schedule, a CPD log, evidenced outcomes against named clinical indicators, and a clear governance trail covering indemnity, DPIA and information governance. PCNs that already work with a structured provider tend to pass this bar without effort; PCNs running solo recruitment often discover gaps only when their ICB asks for evidence.
Deploying ARRS well
How to turn ARRS allocation into measurable patient impact.
ARRS spend is only as useful as the outcomes it produces. The best-performing PCNs we work with treat their ARRS allocation as a clinical programme, not a head-count line. That means mapping pharmacist and technician time directly onto the network's biggest pressures — usually some combination of polypharmacy in over-75s, high-risk drug monitoring, hospital discharge reconciliation, repeat prescribing optimisation and structured medication reviews in care homes.
Once the priorities are set, each pharmacist sessional day should be allocated against them, and each cohort should be tracked against a measurable endpoint — patients reviewed, prescriptions optimised, high-risk monitoring completed, ARRS-reimbursable hours logged. BCS publishes these outcomes monthly for every PCN we work with, which gives Clinical Directors the evidence base they need for ICB reporting, Annex B audit and their own internal governance.
A PCN that lands the deployment well typically sees noticeable reductions in GP medication queries, faster discharge reconciliation turnaround, measurable QOF improvement in cardiovascular and diabetes domains, and a year-end ARRS spend close to 100% of allocation rather than the 70–80% that under-supported PCNs commonly report.
ARRS FAQs.
What is ARRS funding?+
Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme — NHS England funding for PCNs to reimburse specific clinical roles, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, under the Network Contract DES.
Can we use ARRS for an outsourced pharmacist?+
Yes — provided the role meets the supervision, governance and indemnity requirements set out in Annex B of the DES.
What about ARRS underspend at year-end?+
Underspend is forfeited if not deployed. A managed provider can mobilise capacity in weeks; talk to us and we'll cost a plan within 48 hours.
Do BCS pharmacists meet ARRS supervision requirements?+
Yes — every role is supervised weekly by a senior pharmacist in our London or Halifax hub, with documented evidence for ARRS reporting.
Talk to our Service Development team
30-minute discovery call. We'll show you how BCS maps to your PCN's specific priorities.