BHTA obtains important information from NHS Supply Chain about payment increase requests from suppliers

Last Updated on 30/05/2025 by Sarah Sarsby

The British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) has obtained valuable information through an FOI request to Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SSCL), which runs NHS Supply Chain, about how many payment increase requests it receives from suppliers, what happens and how long they take, alongside the process for granting a request.

The questions sent to SSCL are all based on questions that BHTA members regularly ask NHS Supply Chain.

David Stockdale, Chief Executive of the BHTA, submitted the freedom of information (FOI) request to SSCL, which then provided the following responses.

Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, NHS Supply Chain received 105 price increase requests from suppliers. Of these, 32 price increase requests were approved. 13 price increase requests were rejected during these 12 months, while 10 price increase requests were withdrawn by the supplier.

NHS Supply Chain said that the average timeframe for a decision to be made on a price increase request (from submission to final outcome) was 84 days.

The BHTA also asked about any existing NHS Supply Chain policy or guidance outlining the process and criteria for evaluating price increase requests. NHS Supply Chain provided its Supplier Price Increase Workflow document, which details its workflow for dealing with requests.

Download the full FOI request response to the BHTA from SSCL here (PDF).

Download the full Supplier Price Increase Workflow document here (PDF).