Context
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is conducting a market investigation into veterinary services for household pets.
The CMA is currently reviewing pet care plans offered by Vets surgeries. These have been criticised from a value perspective with the CMA looking at Orders with remedies. This may over time have a knock-on effect in the insurance market as Pet insurance premiums are rising in line with increasing Vet costs.
Key points to note and next actions
On 15 October 2025, the CMA published a summary of its provisional decision in its market investigation into the UK’s £6.3 billion veterinary services market, which found competition concerns in those markets. The detailed report and appendices is yet to be published by the CMA.
The timetable relating to the above is as follows:
| Date | Action |
| 22 May 2026: | Statutory deadline |
| February to March 2026: | Publication of final decision |
| November 2025: | Deadline for parties’ final submissions before the final decision |
| November to December 2025: | Provisional decision response hearings |
| 15 October 2025: | Publication of provisional decision |
The market investigation – which is principally into vet businesses, not individual vets – identifies concerns, including that pet owners:
- are often unaware of the prices of commonly used services and whether their local practices are part of large national chains.
- have no effective way of comparing vet prices when they get a pet or move areas.
- may be paying twice as much for commonly prescribed medicines from vet practices than they could pay online, amounting to hundreds of pounds more than they need to pay.
- often receive no written estimate for courses of treatment running to hundreds – or even thousands – of pounds.
- are often unable to tell if they are getting good value for money from pet care plans.
- may be overpaying for individual cremations.
- often have no effective means of complaining when things go wrong.