At Numark, we know that community pharmacies face many challenges when it comes to training and developing their teams. One clear need is for more senior pharmacy staff—people with the skills and knowledge to help run the day-to-day and take on more responsibility. But for many pharmacies, finding the funds to invest in training can be a real barrier.
To help tackle this, we teamed up with Buttercups Training and the PHOENIX Group to explore an effective way to fund pharmacy technician apprenticeship programmes. The answer was levy gifting—a system that allows larger organisations who pay an apprenticeship levy to share some of their unused funds with smaller employers, like community pharmacies. This meant that pharmacies could access fully funded training places without stretching their own budgets.
Bringing partners together for a shared goal
We started by talking with Buttercups Training about the training needs our members face. Together, we identified that while many pharmacies wanted to invest in senior team members, the cost often held them back. Buttercups specialises in apprenticeships and shared their expertise on how we could use levy gifting to help remove the barrier.
Then, in partnership with PHOENIX Group and other Buttercups partners, we secured £500,000 in levy gifting funds. Our goal was clear: use these funds to support as many Numark members as possible by covering the costs of Buttercups’ pharmacy technician apprenticeship.
Demand exceeds expectations
When the campaign launched, the response was immediate and strong. Within just one day, the demand for apprenticeship places outstripped the funds available. This reaction showed how much community pharmacies are eager and ready to invest in their teams when funds are accessible.
Buttercups worked closely with applicants to process applications and allocate as many funded places as possible. Meanwhile, they also reached out to other large organisations to see if more levy gifting funds could be secured.
Two phases, hundreds of apprentices supported
In 2025, we ran two phases of the levy gifting initiative. Between them, 150 individual Numark member pharmacies benefited from this funding. A total of 172 apprentices enrolled on the Buttercups pharmacy technician apprenticeship programme. Altogether, we helped secure over £1.3 million to fund this training.
This level of support means real opportunity for community pharmacies to grow their senior teams and invest in long-term skills development—all without worrying about where the training budget will come from.
Continuing to invest in you
This initiative has been a real success, but the story doesn’t end there. We’re committed to keeping these apprenticeship opportunities open for our members and we’ll continue to work with Buttercups and PHOENIX Group to seek out additional funding and run more phases in the future. Keep an eye out for more updates coming soon!
We’re all in this together, and supporting each other’s growth helps the whole community thrive. That’s just good business.