In addition, three-month and annual prescriptions prepayment certificates will also be frozen for 2025/26. 

Secretary of state for health and social care, Wes Streeting, said: ‘This government's Plan for Change will always put working people first, and our moves today to freeze prescription charges will put money back into the pockets of millions of patients.'

In response, Nick Kaye, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said: ‘It is good news for patients and pharmacies that the government has taken the step to freeze the prescription charge today for the first time in three years.

‘However, we've long called for the prescription charge to be scrapped, which acts as a barrier to some patients accessing vital medication and this is something we'd urge the government to work towards. As pharmacists, we are health care professionals and have no interest in being tax collectors.'