Community pharmacies sit in an unusual cash-flow position. You dispense medicines and provide services now, but a large share of the income for NHS dispensing arrives later through the monthly reimbursement cycle — often a month or more after the drugs have left your shelves and been paid for. That gap between paying your wholesaler and being reimbursed is the single biggest funding pressure most pharmacies face. Credicorp lends to pharmacy businesses that are UK limited companies or LLPs, for business purposes. We do not lend to individual pharmacists in a personal capacity.
Why reimbursement lag ties up cash
Wholesalers and the drug tariff expect prompt payment, while reimbursement for what you have dispensed catches up later. When prescription volumes rise, or when the price of a category-M or short-supply line jumps, the amount of working capital locked in your dispensary rises with it. Funding lets you keep buying stock and paying staff without waiting on the reimbursement run to land.
- Bridging the timing between paying wholesalers and NHS reimbursement
- Holding extra stock through price spikes, shortages or flu and vaccination season
- Funding dispensing and automation equipment — robots, blister-packing and monitored-dosage systems, fridges and consultation-room fit-outs
- Smoothing payroll across the month while income arrives in a lump
Stock and equipment, not just the gap
Beyond bridging reimbursement, pharmacies invest to grow — adding a robot to free up pharmacist time, fitting a private consultation room for the new clinical services, or buying a second branch at company level. Because that spend is front-loaded and the return builds over time, it is well suited to business borrowing rather than draining the cash you need to trade. Our notes on equipment and plant costs for incorporated firms and on financing materials and stock purchases set out how this works in practice.
How the products apply
Credicorp Flex lets you draw against a facility as buying and reimbursement timing shift through the month, which suits the revolving nature of dispensary stock. Credicorp Slice provides a single amount for one defined purchase, such as an automation system or a branch acquisition. Your account team can help you choose, and your rate and term are those set out in your offer. If your pressure is mainly the wages run between income arriving, see funding payroll between customer payments.
Eligibility and protections
We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs only — never to sole traders or individuals — and we take no personal guarantees from the directors or superintendent pharmacist. The borrowing sits with the company. This is business lending outside the FCA consumer-credit regime, so the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS do not apply. For more on why the borrower has to be a company, see why we lend to companies, not sole traders, or get in touch through our contact page or the General Support Enquiry form.
See also: Can an accountancy practice borrow from Credicorp?, How do we fund a large new contract?, Funding a shop fit-out or refurbishment.