Last Updated on August 19, 2026
What the CMA is actually going to require of UK veterinary practices, when it really takes effect, and what to do first.
If you run a veterinary practice you have probably been told you have weeks to comply with the CMA’s new rules.
You almost certainly have longer than that. You also have more to do than a price list.
This page sets out what is coming, on what timetable, in plain English, with links to the primary sources so you can check every line of it yourself.
This is not legal or regulatory advice. Whito is a marketing company, not a law firm and not a regulatory adviser. The substantive Order was still in draft when this was written and its detail may change before it is made. Read the CMA’s own documents, follow your professional body’s guidance, and take your own advice before making decisions. We have linked the primary sources at the foot of this page so you do not have to take our word for any of it.
The timetable, properly
This is where most of the confusion sits, so it is worth being precise.
Two details matter more than the dates themselves.
Smaller practices get longer. The CMA has said smaller businesses will have additional time compared with larger ones and those in large veterinary groups. If you are a single-site independent, you are at the back of the queue in the helpful sense.
Large groups go first. The CMA has said pet owners using large chains should see changes before Christmas. If you compete with a corporate practice locally, their prices may well be public before yours are required to be.
That second point is the commercially interesting one. There is a window in which the chains have published and the independents have not. Whichever way you read it, it is a choice worth making deliberately rather than by default.
What the Order is expected to require
The CMA set out eleven remedies in its final report. Most practice owners have only heard about the first one.
Things you will have to publish
- A comprehensive price list for standard services. The CMA’s wording covers consultations, common procedures, diagnostics, written prescriptions and cremation options.
- Cremation pricing. Clear and upfront, for all the options you offer.
- Pet care plan transparency. The components of the plan priced individually, and how the saving is calculated.
- Ownership. If you are part of a large veterinary group, that has to be clearly displayed.
Things you will have to change
- Prescription fees capped. As drafted, £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for each additional one.
- Tell clients they can have a written prescription. Actively, not on request.
- Written estimates for treatment expected to cost £500 or more.
- Out-of-hours contracts. Unreasonably long notice periods are to be banned.
Things you will have to write down
- A complaints process. Transparent, in-house, with access to mediation.
- A veterinary independence policy. A written policy protecting the clinical judgment of your vets.
There is also a remedy that does not require anything of you directly but changes your world: the RCVS will operate a price comparison service, with provision for sharing data to third parties.
What to do first
Ordered by how long each takes, not by how important it is. The slow ones are not the obvious ones.
1. Work out what your prices actually are. This sounds trivial and is the single biggest job. Most practices discover their price list, their practice management system and what reception quotes on the phone are three different things. Nothing else can start until this is settled.
2. Decide your prescription fee now. If yours is above £21, you have a revenue decision to make and it is better made deliberately in the autumn than in a hurry. Check what you charge for dispensing separately, and be ready to explain the difference between the two.
3. Price your health plan components. If you sell a plan and cannot show what each part costs standalone, the saving you advertise cannot be evidenced. That takes longer than people expect.
4. Write the two policies. Complaints and clinical independence. A morning each, and they can be done before anything else is settled.
5. Then build the page. Publishing is the last step, not the first.
How to publish it so it actually counts
We read 72 UK vet practice websites in August 2026 and found the most common failures were not missing prices. They were prices published in a form nobody can use. The full audit is here.
Five things worth getting right, all learned from what other practices have already got wrong.
- Text on a web page, not an image. We found a practice publishing its entire price list as a single JPEG. A client can read it. A screen reader cannot, a search engine cannot, and neither can a comparison tool.
- Not a PDF only. Same problem, one step removed.
- Two clicks from the homepage. We found price lists filed under About Us and buried in an FAQ behind a menu called Client Corner.
- Put a date on it. One line saying prices correct from a stated month. Most lists we found carried no date at all, so a client cannot tell whether the figures still hold.
- If you use “from” prices, publish the bands. A spay from £350 with no ceiling anywhere is not a price a client can act on.
What this does not require
Worth saying, because a lot of nervous advice is circulating.
It does not require you to be the cheapest, or to justify your prices, or to match anyone. It does not cap what you charge for treatment. The only price cap in the package is on the prescription fee.
It does not require you to publish a price for work that genuinely cannot be priced in advance. It requires a comprehensive list for standard services.
And it does not require you to explain your margins. Publishing a number is not the same as defending it.
The commercial case, briefly
The CMA found that 51% of pet owners considered only one practice before choosing, and that location and personal recommendation mattered far more than price.
That is a market where being findable has never really been tested. A comparison tool run by the regulator will test it.
A practice that publishes nothing will not appear in that comparison as expensive. It will not appear as anything. The practices already publishing full lists, and we found plenty, are not doing it because they are cheap. Several are among the dearer ones in our sample. They are doing it because a client who can see the number is a client who has already made a decision before they ring.
Where this sits in the Whito framework
Publishing your prices is a Start-stage job. It is positioning, not marketing.
No amount of advertising fixes a practice that cannot say what a consultation costs. Get the structure right, then worry about growth.
Common questions
Do I have to publish my prices by 23 September 2026?
No. That is the date by which the CMA must make its Order, which is the regulator’s deadline rather than yours. The BVA expects practices to have until early 2027 to comply, with smaller practices given longer than larger ones. Check the current position with the CMA and your professional body, because the Order was still in draft when this was written.
What is the prescription fee cap?
As drafted, £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for each additional medicine. It is not yet in force. If you currently charge more, that is not a breach of anything today.
Does the cap cover dispensing fees?
The cap as drafted is on the fee for a written prescription. Practices charging a separate dispensing fee should look carefully at how the final Order is worded and take their own advice, because this is exactly the sort of detail that gets tightened between draft and final.
Do I have to publish prices for everything?
The requirement as described by the CMA is a comprehensive price list for standard services, covering consultations, common procedures, diagnostics, written prescriptions and cremation options. It is not a requirement to price work that cannot be priced in advance.
I am a single site independent. Am I treated the same as a corporate group?
No. The CMA has said smaller businesses will have additional time compared with larger businesses and those in large veterinary groups, and that customers of large chains should see changes first.
Where do I check the current position?
The CMA’s veterinary market investigation pages on gov.uk are the primary source, and the BVA maintains a standing page on the investigation for the profession. Both are linked below. This page was written on 19 August 2026 and the position may have moved since.
The practical guides
Three companion pieces that go into the detail this page only summarises.
- How to build a vet price list that actually works, including the eight ways we found real price lists failing.
- Pet health plans and the CMA transparency rule, which is the requirement most practices have not yet thought about.
- How pet owners actually choose a vet, from the CMA’s own demand research.
The evidence behind all three is in our audit of 72 UK vet practice websites.
Sources
CMA, market investigation into veterinary services, final outcome, 24 March 2026. CMA, draft substantive Order and Undertakings consultation, opened 21 July 2026, closed 20 August 2026. British Veterinary Association, Competition and Markets Authority resource page, which is where the early 2027 compliance expectation comes from. CMA, How people purchase veterinary services, 6 February 2025. RCVS response to the CMA remedies.
Correction policy. If anything on this page is out of date or wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk and we will check it, amend it and note the change with its date.
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