Gluten Free on Prescription in England: What Every Coeliac Needs to Know

Gluten free prescriptions are becoming a thing of the past in England but where still offers them and to who? Well, a lot of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) no longer offer gluten free on prescription these day but there are still some of exceptions which I will go through shortly.

Firstly though, I have seen it asked quite often lately, "why are they stopping them?" The answer is very simple. Cost and availability.

This blog only applies to England gluten free prescriptions, in Scotland gluten free prescriptions are available free to anyone diagnosed with coeliac and living in Scotland. Wales also offer prescriptions or in some areas are changing to a top up subsidy card to buy items from supermarkets with NHS help.

Why are prescriptions stopping in some England ICBs?
When gluten free prescriptions were first introduced in the late 1960's, coeliac disease was far less well understood and gluten free food was neither widely available nor was coeliac, or even gluten intolerances, widely recognised. There was no supermarket “free from” aisle, no convenience options, and certainly no choice. In many areas, it was impossible to buy even basic gluten free staples in shops, leaving people to either make everything from scratch or go without.

Prescriptions ensured that people with coeliac disease had reliable access to food that was medically safe and nutritionally appropriate when alternatives did not exist. Gluten free bread and flour were supplied through pharmacies because, for coeliacs, food is the treatment and this was the only way to guarantee that treatment was both accessible and safe.

Over time, increased awareness, driven partly by changing dietary trends and increased knowledge. led to a dramatic rise in the availability of gluten free products. It has been 12 years for me and I can easily see the difference, no doubt those who are 30, 40, 50 years deep into this can see an even more drastic change. We are no longer in the era of dense, tinned gluten free bread that could only be obtained on prescription. Today, gluten free staples are stocked in all major supermarkets and are often available in smaller local shops too.

This shift in availability is one of the key reasons many areas are now choosing to stop gluten free prescriptions. ICBs argue that, because gluten free food can be purchased more easily than before, it no longer needs to be supplied through the NHS. However, this change reflects improvements in access and doesn't always take into account how high the cost of gluten free foods can be (some ICBs do still issue to low income families), especially for those with a low income and multiple Coeliacs in the family.

Availability isn't the only factor though, the cost to the struggling NHS is another massive consideration with some ICBs reporting they spend over £700,000 a year on gluten free prescriptions*, with gluten free being so readily available now, it's an easy item to cut to save much needed money to put somewhere else within the NHS.

_{*North East and North Cumbria reported for 2025}

What is available on gluten free prescription and what is the entitlement?
For those entitled, gluten free bread and flour is generally what are available, brands can vary across the ICB's but the GP practises will have a list of what is available in the area and how many units each item is.

Entitlement varies to by ICB but it works by giving units, individuals are entitled to so many units, the amount given depends on age and gender. For example Kent and Medway ICB recommend 8 units for under 10's and females over 19, 12 for 11-18 year olds and males over 19, and extra 4 units for breastfeeding mothers.

Most ICB's work on 1 month entitlement so these units are for 1 month of prescriptions. An example of what a months supply could be is as follows-

8 units - 6 loaves of bread + 500g of flour OR 4 loaves + 1kg of flour
12 units - 12 bread rolls + 1.5kg of flour OR 12 loaves

In England for under 16s and on certain benefits, prescriptions are free. Everyone else pays £9.90 per prescription, for gluten free this is per product, so 6 loaves is one charge, flour another, or you can get an prepayment card.

Who can still get gluten free on prescription?
As of January 2026, a lot of the ICBs have scaled back or removed gluten free prescriptions. Those that are entitled can only get gluten free bread and flour on prescription these days, which has been the way for about a decade now, before this cakes and biscuits were also available on prescription.

ICB's who still offer gluten free prescriptions either to all coeliacs or with restricted criteria:-
Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB - still prescribes to diagnosed coeliacs
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB - from July 1st 2022 it is only available to under 18's and low income families
Birmingham and Solihull ICB - still available to diagnosed coeliacs as far as I can see
Black Country ICB - still available to diagnosed coeliacs as far as I can see
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB - only available to children diagnosed with coeliac
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB - still available to diagnosed coeliacs as far as I can see
Frimley ICB - still prescribes to those diagnosed with coeliac or dermatitis hepformis
Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB - still prescribes to anyone diagnosed with coeliac
Kent and Medway ICB - reinstated gluten free prescriptions in 2024 to those diagnosed with coeliac
North Central London ICB - still prescribes to anyone diagnosed coeliac (as of docs I can find from 2023)
North East London ICB - still prescribes to anyone diagnosed coeliac
North West London ICB - still prescribes to anyone diagnosed with coeliac or dermatitis hepformis
South East London ICB - still prescribes to anyone diagnosed coeliac
South West London ICB - still prescribes to anyone diagnosed coeliac
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB - available to diagnosed coeliacs under 18
Suffolk and North East Essex ICB - available to diagnosed coeliacs under 19's only
Surrey Heartlands ICB - still available for diagnosed coeliacs as far as I can see
Sussex ICB - prescribes to diagnosed coeliacs

These ICB's are ending gluten free prescriptions soon:-
Cheshire and Merseyside ICB - stopping for over 18s from 11th March 2025, but continuing for under 18s on a 6 month trial basis
Coventry and Warwickshire ICB - ending prescriptions 31st March 2026
North East and North Cumbria ICB - ending prescriptions 31st March 2026

ICB's proposed to stop gluten free on prescription but no action as of yet:-
Dorset ICB - announced November 2025 gluten free on prescription was being decommissioned but no date for it to end yet as far as I can see
Humber and North Yorkshire ICB - proposed to stop in Sept 2025 but no decision yet reached
South Yorkshire ICB - proposed and decision made to decommission in 2026 but no date as of yet

Gluten free prescriptions have stopped in these areas:-
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB - stopped from July 2016 (one of the first ICB to drop them)
Cheshire and Merseyside ICB - stopped from 28th November 2025
Cornwall and The Isles Of Scilly ICB - stopped prescriptions in 2016
Derby and Derbyshire ICB - stopped in 2018
Devon ICB - available only to under 18s
Gloucestershire ICB - stopped in 2016
Greater Manchester ICB - stopped in 2018
Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB - stopped in 2024
Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB - stopped some point after 2028
Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB - stopped in 2024
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB - stopped in February 2025
Lincolnshire ICB - stopped August 2025
Mid and South Essex ICB - stopped mid 2010's
Norfolk and Waveney ICB - stopped 2018
Northamptonshire ICB - stopped Oct 2021
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB - stopped in 2018
Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB - stopped in 2017
Somerset ICB - stopped in 2016
West Yorkshire ICB - stopped April 2024

Over half of the ICBs (25) have either stopped, proposed to stop or are stopping gluten free prescriptions soon, with 18 still clinging on to prescriptions for all coeliacs or with criteria in place.

Over time the amount offering gluten free on prescription is probably expected to decrease even more, there have been talks of subsidy cards like Wales and other methods to help with the cost of gluten free for medical needs. At the moment none of this has come to fruition, who know what the future of prescriptions or subsidies will look like but I am sure time will tell.