Compare Vet Pricing
The CMA made its final Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order on 22 September 2026. These pages explain what the binding, phased reforms mean for published prices, practice ownership, treatment estimates, bills and medicines.
| Item | Status at the source check | Owner action now |
|---|---|---|
| Final report | Published 24 March 2026. | Use the relevant topic page to prepare a question or comparison. |
| Funding Order | Published 20 August 2026; it funds implementation and is separate from the practice-remedy Order. | Do not treat it as commencement of every consumer-facing remedy. |
| Substantive practice-remedy Order | The Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026 was made on 22 September 2026. It makes the remedies legally binding for the businesses to which they apply, with compliance dates phased by remedy and business size. | Use the phased dates below and check which business-size category and remedy apply before assessing compliance. |
The CMA made its final Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order on 22 September 2026. The Order makes the reforms legally binding, but the duties take effect in phases. Standard price lists are due in December 2026 for larger businesses and March 2027 for smaller businesses.
The Order was made on 22 September 2026. The standard price-list deadline is 3 months after the Order for larger businesses and 6 months after it for smaller businesses.
Under the final CMA Order, veterinary groups must clearly display ownership information online, in premises, on signage and in communications. The compliance deadline is March 2027.
The ownership remedy has a six-month implementation period from the Order, giving a March 2027 compliance deadline.
The final CMA Order requires a written estimate when recommended treatment is reasonably likely to cost £500 or more including VAT. It must be updated in writing if the total is likely to rise by 20% or £500 including VAT, whichever is lower. The requirement starts in phases in 2027.
Larger businesses must provide qualifying written estimates from June 2027 and smaller businesses from September 2027.
The final CMA Order includes a requirement to provide itemised bills. Larger businesses must comply from June 2027 and smaller businesses from September 2027; the Order's publication does not make that duty immediately applicable.
Itemised bills are required from June 2027 for larger businesses and September 2027 for smaller businesses.
The final CMA Order requires clearer information about plan contents and the prices of services bought separately. This should help owners compare a subscription with the care they actually expect to use.
The CMA guidance places pet care plan information in the general ownership, prices and services remedy category, with larger-business and smaller-business compliance phases after the Order.
The final CMA Order caps written-prescription fees at £21 for the first medicine prescribed in a consultation and £12.50 for each additional medicine in that consultation, inclusive of VAT. This is a prescription-document fee cap, not a cap on the medicine, dispensing fee or consultation, and the cap starts in phases in 2027.
The prescription-fee cap starts in March 2027 for larger businesses and September 2027 for smaller businesses. The caps are inclusive of VAT, apply across the UK and will be adjusted annually using CPI.