Last Updated on July 16, 2026
The CMA found UK vet prices rose 63% in seven years, that large corporate chains charge more than independents, and that pet owners cannot see what they are paying for. New transparency rules land in 2026. For an honest practice, that is an opportunity
The uncomfortable argument
For two years the Competition and Markets Authority took apart how the UK looks after its pets, and in 2026 it published the verdict. Vet prices have risen far faster than inflation. Large corporate groups now own most practices and tend to charge more than independents. And pet owners, often at their most worried and least able to shop around, cannot easily see what anything costs or why.
That is a hard read for a profession built on care and trust. It is also, for a well-run practice, the most useful thing to happen to the sector in years. The CMA is bringing in price lists, prescription-fee caps and a comparison website. Transparency is moving from optional to required. The practices that get ahead of it, rather than waiting to be forced, will look like the honest, fair choice at exactly the moment owners have been told to be suspicious.
This report is not an attack on vets. The clinical care is not the problem the CMA found, pricing and information are. It is a plain-English summary of what the investigation said, what is about to change, and how a practice can turn new rules everyone must follow into a marketing advantage only some will use.
Key takeaways
- The CMA found average UK vet prices rose around 63% between 2016 and 2023, well ahead of inflation, in a market worth about £6.3 billion.
- Large corporate groups now own most UK practices, and the CMA found they charged on average around 17% more than independents, often without the customer realising who owns the practice.
- The core problems were a lack of clear information for pet owners, weak competition, and an outdated regulatory framework, not the standard of clinical care.
- Reforms include standard price lists for common services and parasite treatments, prescription-fee caps of around £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for each additional one, a price comparison website, and clearer ownership labelling. Most are expected to take effect from late 2026.
- For owners, the cost concern is real: practice medicine prices can sit well above the online price, and prescription and consultation fees are often unclear up front.
- For a practice, transparency is now both compulsory and a marketing edge. Clear pricing, honest medicine options and visible ownership build the trust the whole sector is about to be measured on.
Contents
What the CMA actually found
The headline is the price rise: vet costs climbed by roughly 63% between 2016 and 2023, far outpacing the cost of living over the same period. In a sector worth around £6.3 billion a year, that is a large extra sum coming out of households, often at the hardest moments, when a pet is ill and the owner is in no state to compare prices.
Underneath it, the CMA pointed at structure, not skill. Consolidation has been rapid: large corporate groups now own the majority of UK practices, while many keep long-standing local names, so owners often do not know the friendly local surgery is part of a national chain. The CMA found those group-owned practices charged, on average, around 17% more than independents. Add limited price information, markups on medicines that owners could buy cheaper online, and prescription and consultation fees that are rarely shown up front, and you have a market where it is very hard to be a savvy customer.
What changes from 2026
This is not a report that will gather dust. The CMA has set out binding reforms, with most expected to phase in from late 2026. Whatever your practice, these are the new rules of the game.
| Reform | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Standard price lists | Practices must publish clear prices for common services and the most-sold parasite treatments, so owners can compare before they commit. |
| Prescription-fee caps | Caps of around £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for each additional one, to stop prescription fees being used to discourage buying medicines elsewhere. |
| Medicine price transparency | Owners must be told they can buy prescribed medicines elsewhere, and see prices, rather than defaulting to the practice markup. |
| A price comparison website | An independent way for owners to compare practices on price, making the market far easier to shop. |
| Clearer ownership labelling | Large groups must make their ownership of local-sounding brands visible, so customers know who they are dealing with. |
Details are being finalised by the CMA and exact figures and dates may shift. Treat these as the direction of travel and check the current rules before acting.
The price gap, independent versus group
One number does a lot of work here. On the CMA’s findings, the same kind of care cost noticeably more at a large-group practice than at an independent, even though many group practices keep a local name.
If you are an independent, that gap is your opening, and most independents are not making nearly enough of it. If you are part of a group, the new ownership labelling means you can no longer rely on a local name to hide the connection, so the answer is to compete on clarity and service rather than on a customer not noticing. Either way, the practices that win will be the ones that make their value obvious.
Why this is an opportunity for honest practices
When a regulator publicly tells a nation that it has been overcharged and kept in the dark, every business in that sector inherits the suspicion. That feels unfair to the many practices doing the right thing. But it also hands those practices a simple way to stand out: be visibly, deliberately transparent while the rest scramble to comply.
Owners are now primed to ask what things cost and whether they can get medicines cheaper. A practice that answers those questions warmly and up front, before being asked, does not look defensive. It looks like the trustworthy one. In a market the CMA has just made easier to compare, trust and clarity are not soft extras, they are the product.
What your practice can do now
You do not need to wait for the rules to be enforced. Getting ahead of them is the whole advantage. Most of this is communication, not cost.
- Publish your prices before you have to. Put clear prices for common consultations, vaccinations and parasite treatments on your website now. Being early signals confidence and honesty while competitors stall.
- Be open about medicines. Tell owners they can buy prescribed medicines elsewhere and what your prescription fee is. Owners respect the honesty, and it is about to be required anyway.
- Explain the cost of care, not just the number. A short, kind explanation of what a price includes turns a scary bill into an informed choice, and informed clients complain less and trust more.
- If you are independent, say so proudly. Local, independent ownership is now a genuine selling point. Make it clear on your website, your profile and in the practice.
- Win and answer reviews. Trust is the whole game now. A steady flow of genuine reviews, and calm replies to the difficult ones, is your strongest signal. See our guides to getting more Google reviews and responding to a bad review.
- Lead with transparency in your marketing. Make clear pricing and honest advice the centre of how you present the practice, not the small print. Our guide to what marketing should cost helps you spend on it sensibly.
This is the Start and Build work in practice. The reforms are coming whether you like them or not. The practices that treat transparency as a value rather than a rule will not just comply, they will be chosen.
Methodology and sources
Compiled by Whito in June 2026. The figures, an average rise in UK veterinary prices of around 63% between 2016 and 2023, a market worth roughly £6.3 billion, large corporate groups owning the majority of practices, and group practices charging on average around 17% more than independents, are drawn from the Competition and Markets Authority’s market investigation into veterinary services for household pets, including its provisional decision published in October 2025 and its final decision report published in March 2026. The reforms described, including standard price lists, prescription-fee caps of around £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for each additional one, a price comparison website and clearer ownership labelling, with most expected to take effect from late 2026, reflect the CMA’s published remedies, the detail of which the CMA has been consulting on and which may be refined. The point that practice medicine prices can sit well above online prices reflects the CMA’s findings on medicine markups. This report summarises the CMA’s findings about the sector as a whole and is not a comment on the conduct of any individual practice or named company, and clinical standards were not the subject of these pricing findings. It is general information, not legal or regulatory advice. Check the current CMA rules before acting.
