Boots has confirmed its new £15 rule that rolled out in pharmacies across England and Northern Ireland at the beginning of April. The British pharmacy chain, which has more than 1,800 stores in the UK, recently announced a major pay change for trainee pharmacists in the UK, revealing that they received an increase on April 1. Trainee pharmacists at Boots now earn £30,000 a year, which is equivalent to £15.34 an hour.
The pharmacy shared the news in a joint statement with the Pharmacies Defence Association (PDA). The new pay is based on a working week of 37 and a half hours. « We are committed to ensuring that our pay remains competitive and reflective of the valuable contribution that Trainee Pharmacists make across all locations, » the shared statement said. It marks an increase in pay of 4%.
Boots confirmed that the increase applies to « all zones where trainee pharmacists are employed ». Trainee pharmacists at Boots received a similar pay increase in April 2025, but the rate of increase depended on which zone they worked in.
From that previous increase, trainee pharmacists were paid £14.52 per hour in Zone A and B in England and Northern Ireland.
Boots employs 52,000 Boots UK, No7 Beauty Company, Boots Ireland and Boots Opticians team members. It has 4,900 registered pharmacists, 15,000 Boots Pharmacy Technicians, Dispensers, Advisors and Healthcare Sales Assistants, and more than 2,200 Boots Macmillan Information Pharmacists (BMIPs).
Boots isn’t the only high street brand to recently announce a pay increase for its employees. From April 1, low-cost fashion retailer Primark raised its average hourly pay rates to a minimum of £13 for all retail assistants across England, Scotland and Wales, and to £13.71 per hour in London.
These increases come as the National Living Wage (for those 21 and over) rose to £12.71. Meanwhile, 18-20 year olds earning under the new National Minimum Wage have seen their hourly pay upped to £10.85.
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