For more than twenty years, the PDA has supported locum members recover debts owed to them by rogue employers who have refused to honour the contracts they agreed.
The amount recovered by the PDA has increased dramatically over the last few years, with more than £100,000 being recovered each year. 2024 saw the PDA reach a record of £126,654.37 (almost £2500 each week on average).
The amount recovered by the PDA for members has already reached £54,000 in the first four and a half months of 2025.
The PDA is currently supporting a small group of members who are collectively owed more than £200,000 in unpaid locum fees by just one pharmacy business. It seems likely that the total amount recovered by the PDA could reach £1 million by the year’s end.
Mark Pitt, PDA Union General Secretary and Director of Defence Services has commented, “Businesses must pay locums for the services they have provided in accordance with the contractual terms agreed. It should not be necessary for the PDA to intervene to make it happen. Yet every year we are assisting members who cannot get paid by certain employers without our help. Our simple message to these businesses is ‘pay your debts’.
We believe this is a further example of how the treatment of businesses by the regulator contrasts to that of individual registrants. Where businesses repeatedly refuse to pay their debts, there seems to be no consequences for the pharmacy owners, other than individuals taking legal action to recover what is owed to them.
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.