UK weighs vet licensing and pet prescription fee cap

UK ministers are weighing a new licensing regime for veterinary practices that would include a cap on pet prescription fees at £21, according to The Guardian. The proposals, set out in a government white paper, would also introduce inspections, published compliance reports, and mandatory price lists intended to make bills easier to compare across providers.

The plan lands in a market that has quietly consolidated. The Guardian cites figures showing that more than 60% of UK veterinary practices are owned in whole or in part by six groups: CV, Pets at Home, Medivet, IVC, VetPartners and Linnaeus. Five of those groups are owned by private equity investors, while Linnaeus is owned by Mars Petcare, part of the US confectionery group Mars. The Competition and Markets Authority said in 2024 that public satisfaction with the cost of veterinary services was low and that competition between businesses was weak, with large chains dominant.

For households, the pressure is already visible in the numbers. Pet owners spent more than £6.7 billion on veterinary and other services in 2024, with the average pet-owning household spending £390, the Guardian reports. Big-ticket procedures can quickly overwhelm that baseline: surgery for cruciate ligament disease in dogs can cost £5,000 or more. Ministers argue that clearer pricing and a prescription cap would reduce “unexpected bills” and make it easier to shop around.

The reforms also reflect how far the sector has moved from the assumptions embedded in its current legal framework. The Veterinary Surgeons Act dates to the 1960s, when the industry was largely agricultural and dominated by small family-run practices; today, most work is small-animal care and many clinics sit inside multi-site corporate structures. Campaigners cited by The Guardian say consolidation has narrowed consumer choice and shifted focus toward profit. The Guardian also points to a case used by critics: in 2024, Great Western Exotics—described as the leading exotics animal vet and the UK’s only training centre for avian medicine—shut down after being bought by a large conglomerate.

The CMA’s chief executive Sarah Cardell backs the government’s direction of travel, framing licensing and oversight as a way to make vet businesses “accountable” to an independent regulator. Whether that accountability shows up as lower total bills, or simply as more paperwork around the same pricing power, will depend on what the regulator can actually enforce in a market where ownership is increasingly concentrated.

If the changes go ahead, every vet practice would need an official operating licence—like GP surgeries and care homes—while the prescription fee would be one of the few numbers owners could reliably predict before the consultation even begins.