2025 Annual Report
The PMCPA’s 2025 Annual Report is now available.
It reports on the financials and activities of the PMCPA in 2025 and provides detailed analysis of the outcomes of all complaints received in the calendar year 2024.
While the statistics for the complaints received in 2024 show the demonstrable progress made in reducing the number of complaints awaiting adjudication and in reducing the time taken to produce rulings, we are confident that the data for complaints received in 2025 will show further improvements.
I provide a snapshot of some of the key statistics from the 2025 report below, as well as the current picture as of the end of June 2026.
Alex Fell - Chief Executive, PMCPA
2025 Annual Report
01 July 2026
Addressing the backlog of complaints
The number of rulings issued by the PMCPA in 2025 (161 rulings) was 55% higher than in 2024 (104 rulings).
During 2025, the number of cases either awaiting a decision by the case preparation manager on whether or not they should proceed or awaiting adjudication by the Panel dropped from 155 at the start of the year to 81 by the end of the year. As of the end of the first half of 2026, this number has decreased further – to 65 cases.
| 30 June 2026 |
Case preparation stage | 26 |
Referred to the Panel but not yet assigned | 22 |
Assigned to Panel members | 17 |
| 65 |
Awaiting either undertaking or decision to appeal | 9 |
Processing appeal | 4 |
| 78 |
This table is now published on the 'Ongoing cases' webpage and will be updated monthly.
Panel rulings
The vast majority of cases are resolved at Panel level, but any complainant or respondent can appeal to the Appeal Board if they disagree with the Panel’s rulings.
For complaints received in 2024, 98% of Panel rulings were accepted by the parties or upheld on appeal.
I am pleased that this level has been maintained at the same time as the PMCPA has implemented process improvements to address the backlog of complaints and recruited and trained a number of new Panel members.
Our Panel members unite a broad range of relevant skills and experience, including experience in a variety of roles across the pharmaceutical industry, pharmacists who have worked across the NHS and industry, legal, regulatory and compliance expertise, and experience and skills from other relevant backgrounds.
The growth of the team has increased the throughput of cases and brought in fresh thinking. It has helped to future-proof the organisation as we are now more resilient to cope with peaks in workload and any changes within the team.
Reducing the time to case completion
I am encouraged that the average time taken to complete cases has fallen. The average case completion time for complaints received in 2024 was approximately 8 weeks shorter than for complaints received in 2025.
There is a lag in terms of seeing the effect of measures implemented to address the backlog of complaints and improve the speed of resolution of cases, but it is positive to see that these measures had already shortened the average time for those complaints reported in detail within the 2025 annual report.
We have already made good progress through the complaints received in 2025 and we expect to see an even larger decrease in the case completion time reported in next year’s annual report. In the meantime, the graph and table below present the data for the complaints received in 2025 that have already been completed.
| Year complaint received | ||||
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
Average number of weeks taken to complete cases | |||||
All cases | 38.4 | 53.0 | 60.4 | 52.2 | 33.8 |
Cases settled at Panel level | 37.7 | 51.7 | 59.1 | 50.2 | 33.8 |
Cases that were the subject of appeal | 43.3 | 67.4 | 71.8 | 65.9 | 33.8 |
Cases with sanctions affecting case completion date | – | – | 74.4 | 73.4 | – |
*As of 30 June 2026, 77 of the 100 complaints received in 2025 have been completed. The preliminary figures in this table for 2025 include only these completed cases. There is one case received in 2024 that is not included in this table as it is the subject of ongoing sanctions. | |||||
Please note that a case is not considered 'complete' until:
the deadline for either party to appeal the Panel's ruling has passed
when breaches are ruled: the company has returned its signed undertaking and assurance
in the event of an appeal: the Appeal Board has issued its ruling and, if the Appeal Board ruled any breaches of the Code, the company has returned its signed undertaking and assurance
Annual report
Of course, our remit is much broader than the operation of the complaints procedure and in 2025 we had a particular focus on delivering training and guidance. Please do review our annual report to read about the other activities which took place in 2025. I will end with a huge thank you to the team for the dedication and diligence that they bring every day.
- Alex