salary intelligence
Advertised hourly pay for accuracy checking technicians at Well Pharmacy has risen by 45p to £16.30 since early July, according to PharmSee's analysis of live vacancy adverts, while the range advertised by Rowlands Pharmacy sits where it did in April. The samples are small and an advert is not a contract, but the step is consistent across all five of Well's standard accuracy checking technician adverts, which span England and Wales.
Accuracy checking technicians, often shortened to ACPTs, advertise at higher hourly rates than standard technicians in the adverts PharmSee tracks: £16.30 against £13.85 to £14.30 at Well, for example. PharmSee examined the role's pay in April 2026, when Well's advertised rate was £15.85 an hour. The same figure appeared in PharmSee's readings in May and early July, so September is the first time it has moved.
What the adverts show
On 25 September 2026, PharmSee's database held 27 adverts with "checking" in the job title, one of them at trainee level. They came from eight of the eleven sources PharmSee tracks (ten employer careers sites plus NHS Jobs). PharmSee's search returns at most 200 results and this one returned 27, so the count is complete for that keyword. Of the 27 adverts, 18 state an hourly rate in figures.
| Employer | Advertised hourly rate | Adverts with a rate | Earlier PharmSee reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Well Pharmacy (standard adverts) | £16.30 | 5 | £15.85 (April, May, early July) |
| Well Pharmacy (relief adverts) | £16.85 to £17.35 | 3 | Not separately recorded |
| Rowlands Pharmacy | £16.11 base (7 adverts); £16.53 base (2 adverts) | 9 | £16.11 and £16.53 (April) |
| NHS Professionals, via NHS Jobs (bank role) | £18.66 | 1 | April's NHS reading was a salaried post (not comparable) |
| Cohens, Day Lewis, Morrisons, Tesco, Weldricks | No rate stated | 0 of 9 | Not applicable |
Source: PharmSee live vacancy database, 25 September 2026. Advertised rates only; sample sizes are shown in the third column.
How the rates have moved
Well Pharmacy. PharmSee recorded the chain's standard accuracy checking technician rate at £15.85 an hour in April (eight adverts) and May (six adverts), and again in early July. The September figure of £16.30 is 45p, or 2.8%, higher. On an illustrative 37.5-hour week over 52 weeks, that is roughly £878 a year: £31,785 against £30,908.
The chain's standard pharmacy technician adverts are less clear-cut. Of three in the September data, one states £14.30, one states £13.85 (the rate recorded in April) and one states no rate. The £14.30 figure is exactly 45p above the earlier rate, the same step as the accuracy checking role, which may indicate a uniform uplift being applied as adverts are refreshed. A single advert cannot confirm that, and the adverts do not say why the figure changed.
Rowlands Pharmacy. Advertised base rates match April: seven adverts at £16.11 an hour and two at £16.53. Two of the nine also quote an add-on of 60p and £1.00 an hour respectively, without saying what triggers it. Adverts do not capture pay reviews applied to existing contracts, so an unchanged advertised range is not evidence that pay for current staff is unchanged.
The gap between the two. In April, Well's advertised rate was 26p an hour below Rowlands' lower figure (£15.85 against £16.11). In September it is 19p above that figure and 23p below Rowlands' higher one (£16.30 against £16.53). On these adverts, Well's rate now sits inside Rowlands' advertised range rather than beneath it.
Relief roles and bank rates
Well's three relief accuracy checking adverts state £16.85 (two adverts) and £17.35 (one), which is 55p to £1.05 above the standard rate. All three are in Wales, in the CF and LL postcode areas, so the premium may reflect local cover needs. Three adverts cannot support a general relief premium.
The single NHS Jobs advert is an hourly bank role listed by NHS Professionals in the HP11 postcode area, stating £18.66 an hour. One advert says little about how bank rates compare with employed community pay, and bank roles are typically engaged on different terms from permanent posts.
Where pay stays undisclosed
Nine of the 27 adverts state no figure. Day Lewis and Morrisons describe pay only as competitive, while Cohens (four adverts), Tesco (one) and Weldricks (two, one at trainee level) leave the pay field blank. Boots has no adverts with an accuracy checking title in the data; its 72 pharmacy technician adverts on the same date state no rate, and the adverts do not show which roles involve checking duties.
That leaves any rate comparison for this role resting on three employers: Well, Rowlands and a single NHS Professionals advert.
What the data can and cannot show
- Advertised pay is not contracted pay. Adverts do not capture hours, location supplements, experience or reviews applied to existing staff.
- Samples are small. There are five standard Well adverts, nine Rowlands adverts and one NHS Professionals advert. The figures are directional indicators rather than market rates, and no median is quoted.
- Earlier readings are from different dates. They come from PharmSee's records of the same employers' adverts, with different numbers of adverts at each reading.
- Job boards show a subset of vacancies. Roles filled internally or through agencies do not appear, and adverts that omit the word "checking" from the title would not be captured by the search.
- Annual figures are illustrative. They assume 37.5 hours a week over 52 weeks; contracted hours vary.
- Nothing here describes an employer's overall pay or performance. The figures cover one role, on the adverts visible on one date.
What it means for technicians
For technicians comparing offers, the practical point is to compare on the same basis: the hourly base rate, any add-on, and the contracted hours. Two Rowlands adverts quote an extra 60p and £1.00 an hour with no explanation of the conditions, which is worth asking about before drawing a comparison.
PharmSee's jobs search lists current accuracy checking technician vacancies by location, and the salary page shows advertised pay benchmarks across pharmacy roles. For how accuracy checking fits into a technician's wider pay progression, see the career ladder by stage.
- PharmSee live pharmacy vacancy database, snapshot of 25 September 2026: adverts aggregated from ten employer careers sites and NHS Jobs, searched by job-title keyword.
- PharmSee, Accuracy Checking Technician pay uplift in 2026 (April 2026 baseline).
- NHS Jobs advert M0042-90645, NHS Professionals Limited (live on 25 September 2026).