The rules for vet practices in the UK have changed. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the government body that checks businesses treat their customers fairly. It spent three years investigating how vet practices are run and how they charge. On 22 September 2026, it made the Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026. An Order is a set of legally binding rules. This one sets out what every practice must tell you and what it can charge you for.

The changes arrive in stages between December 2026 and September 2027. Some are small, like a poster in the waiting room. Others could save the owner of a cat on long-term medicine a few hundred pounds a year. Prescription fees are capped, practices must tell you when medicines may be cheaper elsewhere and any big bill comes with a written estimate first.

Why the CMA looked at vets

The CMA opened a review of vet services in 2023, and around 45,000 pet owners wrote in. Many raised the cost of care, and of medicines in particular. Around 11,000 people working in the profession wrote in too, and many shared the same worries.

The investigation found that average vet prices rose by 63 per cent between 2016 and 2023. Prices across the economy rose by 32 per cent over the same years. In 2013, about one practice in ten belonged to a large group. By 2025, six large groups owned more than 60 per cent of all practices, and fewer than half of their customers knew it. Those groups are CVS, IVC Evidensia, Linnaeus, Medivet, Pets at Home and VetPartners.

Independent practices are the ones not owned by a big company. Prices at five of the six large groups were on average 18 per cent higher than at independents. Fewer than half of owners were told what a non-routine treatment would cost before it started. Commonly prescribed medicines were typically 50 to 60 per cent cheaper at online pharmacies than at the practice. The CMA worked out that many owners could save £200 to £300 a year by buying them there.

Individual vets were not blamed for any of this. The CMA said that vets work hard, act ethically and care about the animals in front of them. Its concern was with the information owners were given, and with how some businesses set prices when they were hard to compare.

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Knowing who owns your practice and what they charge

Every practice that belongs to a group will have to say so. The name of the group must appear on the sign outside, inside the building, on the website and in search results and online maps. It has to be at least as prominent as the practice's own name. The same rule covers out-of-hours clinics, the specialist hospitals your vet refers you to, laboratories, pet crematoria and online pharmacies. If they all belong to the same group, that will be visible for the first time.

A price list is coming to every practice as well. The list follows a standard format set by the CMA, so the same words mean the same things from one practice to the next. It covers the things most owners buy. That includes consultations, vaccinations, microchipping, neutering, dental work, common scans and tests, out-of-hours consultations, written prescriptions and cremation. Where a price depends on the size of the animal, cats get a column of their own. Prices include VAT, and a practice must update the list before it charges a new price.

The list has to sit one click from the practice's homepage, under a heading that says price or fees. When you book an appointment, the confirmation email or text must include the price of the consultation and a link to the list. The same information goes to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), which regulates vets. Its Find a Vet website will then show local practices side by side, and approved comparison sites will be able to use the data too.

The qualifications of the vets who work at a practice, and any quality awards it holds, must be published as well. Pet care plans, the monthly plans that bundle up jabs and check-ups, get the same treatment. The page that sells the plan must show the price of each part and the total cost. It must also show the sums behind any advertised saving.

Medicines and written prescriptions

A written prescription is a note from your vet that lets you buy a medicine from any registered pharmacy, including online ones. Any vet who prescribes a medicine during a consultation must now tell you, there and then, that you can have one. The only exceptions are medicines that have to be given by a vet, or that your cat needs to start straight away.

Before the Order there was no limit on the fee for writing one, and many practices charged £30 or more. The Order caps the fee at £21.40 for the first medicine and £12.70 for each additional medicine prescribed at the same time, including VAT. The CMA set the caps at £21 and £12.50 in March 2026 and adjusted them for inflation before the Order was made. They will rise with inflation each April from 2028.

A paper prescription must be handed to you by the end of the consultation. A digital one must be ready by the end of the second working day. It can go to you or straight to the online pharmacy of your choosing. The course length must be the same whether you buy from the practice or elsewhere. A practice cannot hand you a shorter prescription to make the online route less worthwhile.

A large poster from the CMA will hang in every waiting room and consulting room. Its headline is "You could save money by shopping around for your pet's medicines", and it shows the practice's own prescription fee. The same message will appear on every receipt for medicine. It will also come with the packaging the first time your cat goes onto a long-term medicine. Some practices sell their own-brand version of a medicine, under a name of their own. In that case, the vet must tell you the name of the original product so you can shop around for it.

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Bigger bills and what you get in writing

Where a course of treatment is reasonably likely to cost £500 or more including VAT, the practice must give you a written estimate. The estimate covers the whole treatment plan, including the tests and follow-ups expected over the next 12 months. It must arrive by the end of the working day after the vet recommends the plan. That gives you time to think, ask questions or get a second estimate elsewhere.

If the likely cost later rises by 20 per cent, or by £500 if that is less, an updated estimate must follow. An emergency is the exception. A vet who judges that any delay would seriously harm your cat can start treating straight away. The estimate then follows once the emergency has passed. An owner who would rather not have an estimate can say so.

Every bill will be itemised, with each item listed separately. Medicines, tests, procedures and any add-ons will each have their own line, so you can check the bill against the estimate and the price list. Where a bill covers a cremation, the practice may keep it simpler so you aren't reading a breakdown on a hard day. A fuller breakdown is there if you ask for it.

The new rules also protect your vet's judgement. The CMA heard from vets who felt pushed by sales targets and company rules to recommend particular tests and treatments. Every practice must now have written policies, training and checks in place. Their purpose is to let vets give you independent advice about the options and their costs.

Saying goodbye

Two thirds of pet owners choose cremation when their pet dies. The CMA found that some practices were charging around £100 more for an individual cremation than they would if practices were competing properly on price. A communal cremation, where your cat is cremated alongside other pets and the ashes are not returned, costs a good deal less than an individual one. Every practice must now offer a basic communal cremation as one of its options. Every option, including taking your cat home for burial, must be shown on its website with equal prominence.

When the time comes, the practice must talk you through the options before you decide. It must also put the price of each in writing, along with the price of any extras. Having it on paper helps at a time when it's hard to take anything in.

When something goes wrong

Every practice must have a written complaints process and follow it. The process must be on the website, on a sign in reception and on your bills, and new clients must be told where to find it. If a complaint isn't sorted out within ten working days, it becomes a formal one. From there, the practice must acknowledge it in writing within five working days and give you a named contact. A full written response must follow within eight weeks. It has to show that the practice has understood the complaint and say what it is offering to put things right.

If that doesn't settle it, the practice must take part in mediation, where an independent person helps the two of you reach an agreement. The mediation is free for you. Practices must also keep a log of formal complaints, review it and hand it to the RCVS on request.

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When the changes arrive

The Order treats businesses with 15 or more practices as large and gives them less time than everyone else. The first changes reach the large groups in December 2026, and most owners will see them during 2027.

📋 Price lists, practice information, care plan pricing, cremation options and the policies protecting vets' advice. Large groups by 22 December 2026, everyone else by 22 March 2027.

🏷️ Group name on the sign, the website and in search results. All practices by 22 March 2027.

💊 The prescription fee caps. Large groups by 22 March 2027, everyone else by 22 September 2027.

🗣️ The offer of a written prescription, the poster and the medicine flyer. Large groups by 22 June 2027, everyone else by 22 September 2027.

🧾 Written estimates and itemised bills. Large groups by 22 June 2027, everyone else by 22 September 2027.

📣 Complaints processes and mediation. All practices by 22 March 2027.

🔎 Prices on Find a Vet. Three months after the RCVS has the comparison service ready, and no earlier than 22 September 2027.

The RCVS will check that practices are keeping to the rules, and any business with more than one practice must confirm each year that it is. The CMA has also asked the government to replace the law that governs vets. That law is 60 years old, and it covers individual vets but not the businesses that employ them.

Key takeaways

🐱 Vet prices rose twice as fast as inflation between 2016 and 2023. The CMA's new rules for practices are now law.

🏥 Every practice will publish a standard price list with a column for cats. It will also have to say if it belongs to a group.

💷 Written prescription fees are capped at £21.40 for the first medicine and £12.70 for each extra one. Your vet must offer one whenever a medicine is prescribed.

🛒 The same medicines are typically 50 to 60 per cent cheaper online. The CMA estimates that is worth £200 to £300 a year to many owners.

📝 Any treatment likely to cost £500 or more comes with a written estimate. Every bill will be itemised.

🕰️ The changes land between December 2026 and September 2027. The big groups go first.

Research rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 of 5). Last updated 23 September 2026.

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