Vets could have to make ‘fundamental’ changes to boost customer experience
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has proposed 21 measures that will transform consumer experience of veterinary businesses, which will lead to more choice and savings.
The measures, outlined in the CMA’s provisional decision in its market investigation into the UK’s £6.3bn veterinary services market, include better information on prices, treatments, medicines and ownership, a price cap on written prescriptions and a new comprehensive price comparison website.
The market investigation – which is principally into vet businesses, not individual vets – identifies concerns, including:
- Customers are often unaware of the prices of commonly used services and whether their local practices are part of large national chains
- Customers have no effective way of comparing vet prices when they get a pet or move areas
- Customers may be paying twice as much for commonly prescribed medicines from vet practices than they could pay online
- Customers often receive no written estimate for courses of treatment running to hundreds – or even thousands – of pounds
- Customers are often unable to tell if they are getting good value for money from pet care plans
- Customers often have no effective means of complaining when things go wrong.
The investigation found these factors are market wide and mean consumers do not benefit from strong competition between vet businesses. Average vet prices across the market rose by 63% between 2016 and 2023 – well above the rate of inflation – the CMA found.
The CMA also found that customers pay 16.6% more on average at large vet groups than at independent vets. For at least three of those large groups, average prices increased faster at practices they bought than at practices that remained independent. For a substantial part of the market as a whole, profits are much higher than they should be if competition was working well.
In addition, the investigation found that the current regulatory system is not fit for purpose. It only regulates individual veterinary professionals and not vet businesses, despite the majority of practices being part of a large corporate group.
Martin Coleman, Chair of the inquiry group, said: “We are proposing major reforms aimed at bringing about a transformation in the experience of pet owners and empowering them to make the best choices for their circumstances.
“We believe that our proposals would enable pet owners to choose the right vet, the right treatment, and the right way to purchase medicine – without confusion or unnecessary cost.”
The reforms would be implemented through a legally binding CMA Order and could see some measures coming into force before the end of 2026. Small vet businesses will be given additional time for implementation.
The CMA will now consult on its provisional decision and the final decision will be published by March 2026.
