Veterinary practices across the UK are now subject to a legally enforced cap on prescription fees, set at £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for any additional drugs, following a major intervention by the competition watchdog. The move forms the cornerstone of a sweeping set of reforms designed to inject transparency and competition into a £6.7 billion market where pet owners have been “left in the dark” over soaring bills.
New rules for transparency and choice
The cap, finalised by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after a two-and-a-half-year investigation, is slightly higher than an initial £16 proposal following industry feedback. Alongside the limit, vets must now proactively inform owners that they can request a written prescription and that medicines may be cheaper online. The CMA estimates this alone could save some pet owners hundreds of pounds annually, noting that over 70% purchase long-term medication directly from their vet despite potential annual savings of £200 or more by shopping elsewhere.
Further legally binding measures will be phased in over the next 3 to 12 months, with most remedies due by September 2026. Practices must provide a written estimate for any non-emergency treatment expected to cost £500 or more, including aftercare, and furnish itemised bills. Comprehensive price lists for standard services—from consultations to common procedures and cremation—will also become mandatory. This addresses a significant information gap, as the CMA found less than 40% of practices currently have prices on their websites, and those that do often list few services.
Market dominance and rising prices
The CMA’s investigation, which garnered an unprecedented 56,000 submissions from the public and professionals, identified fundamental structural problems weakening competition. It found that more than 60% of UK veterinary practices are owned in whole or in part by just six large groups: the listed companies CVS and Pets at Home; the private equity-owned Medivet, IVC and VetPartners; and Linnaeus, whose parent is Mars Petcare.
This consolidation has had a direct impact on prices. The watchdog found that fees at large corporate chains were, on average, 16.6% higher than at independent practices. Overall, the cost of vet services rose by 63% between 2016 and 2023, sharply outpacing general inflation. The CMA stated it saw no strong link between these price increases and investments in quality. Internal documents from some large veterinary groups linked price rises to an expectation that pet owners would not switch providers, with pricing strategies based “primarily on non-quality factors.”
To tackle opaque ownership, large groups will now be forced to clearly disclose when individual practices are part of a chain. This information will be available through the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ (RCVS) ‘Find a Vet’ service and shared with third-party comparison sites. The CMA has also proposed the development of a dedicated cost comparison website, with existing sites like FairVet and VetCostCompare already operating in this space.
Outdated regulation and industry reaction
Central to the CMA’s findings is a critique of the sector’s 60-year-old regulatory regime, which it labelled “outdated.” The current rules, under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, apply to individual vets but not to the businesses or practices themselves, leaving “key parts of the system unregulated.” The reforms lend weight to government proposals to overhaul the Act, which would introduce official operating licences for practices and, for the first time, make veterinary businesses accountable to an independent regulator.
The industry’s response has been mixed. CVS Group said it was “pleased” the CMA had considered feedback on the fee cap and was “comfortable” with the workable remedies, noting it already publishes price lists and jointly brands many practices. Vets for Pets, the 452-practice arm of Pets at Home, highlighted its joint venture model and said it was “pleased the process has identified the need to modernise the legislation.”
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) welcomed the focus on transparency but expressed “serious concerns” about some proposals regarding drug prescribing and sale, deeming them potentially “unreasonable” and “ineffective.” BVA President Rob Williams also pointed to the higher costs all businesses face. Other professional bodies, including the British Small Animal Veterinary Association and the Veterinary Management Group, have jointly raised concerns that some remedies may be disproportionate and burdensome for smaller practices.
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons welcomed the push for legislative change, acknowledging its current lack of mandatory powers to regulate practices. The British Veterinary Nursing Association also noted the CMA’s support for potential reforms to veterinary nurse regulation, including statutory title protection.
With the first changes, including standard price lists at chain practices, expected before Christmas, the reforms mark the biggest shake-up of the UK veterinary sector in decades, aiming to rebalance a market where pet-owning households spent an average of £390 on services last year.
