Vets To Cap Prescription Fees At £21 Under New UK Rules

The UK's competition watchdog has ordered sweeping changes to the veterinary sector, including capping prescription fees, requiring full price transparency for services and forcing large chains to disclose their ownership, following a two-and-a-half-year investigation into the £6.7bn market.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that vet prices had risen by 63% between 2016 and 2023, almost twice the rate of inflation, and that competition in the sector was weak, with more than 60% of practices being owned by just six large groups. The watchdog said pet owners had been "left in the dark" about who owned their veterinary practice, how much they would be charged, and whether cheaper options existed.

"Too often, people are left in the dark about who owns their practice, treatment options and prices – even when facing bills running into thousands of pounds," said Martin Coleman, chair of the independent inquiry group. "Our measures mean it will be made clear to pet owners which practices are part of large groups, which are charging higher prices, and for the first time, vet businesses will be held to account by an independent regulator."

Under the new rules, written prescription fees that are currently uncapped and often exceed £30 will be limited to £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for any additional drugs. All practices must also publish comprehensive price lists covering consultations, common procedures, diagnostics and cremation options. Less than 40% currently have prices on their websites. For any treatments that are expected to cost £500 or more, practices must provide a written estimate in advance of the treatment and an itemised bill afterwards. Emergencies are the only exception.

Vets will also be required to tell pet owners that medications may be cheaper online and that they can obtain a written prescription that they can use elsewhere. The CMA found that more than 70% of pet owners bought long-term medication directly from their vet practice, even though many could save £200 or more a year by shopping around.

A price comparison website will be introduced, with data fed through the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons' Find a Vet service and shared with third-party comparison platforms. The watchdog also backed proposed government reforms to veterinary law that would make businesses, not just individual vets, accountable to an independent regulator, which the British Veterinary Association called long overdue, describing the current 60-year-old regime as "woefully outdated."

The CMA will have six months to impose legally binding orders, meaning all measures must be in place by 23rd September 2026. Most will take effect within three to twelve months after that, with pet owners using chain practices expecting to see changes before Christmas.

The six dominant groups are CVS and Pets at Home, both listed on the London Stock Exchange; Medivet, IVC and VetPartners, backed by private equity; and Linnaeus, owned by Mars Petcare. CVS said it was "comfortable" with the new rules and considered them "workable," although they added that they continued to believe that "some of these remedies are not fully justified." Pets at Home's Vets for Pets arm said it welcomed the push to modernise the regulatory system.

The BVA acknowledged prices had risen sharply but said that the profession was not immune to wider cost pressures. "Delivering highly skilled veterinary medicine is costly," said BVA president Rob Williams, noting that advances in treatment meant vets could now do far more for animals than in the past, but that this came at a price.