Vet Prices: £21 Prescription Cap Now Law, From Dec 2026

The biggest change to how UK vets sell to pet owners in a generation was signed off this week. On 22 September the Competition and Markets Authority made the Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026 and accepted undertakings from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. It follows the CMA’s final report in March, and it turns 14 recommendations into rules practices have to follow.

None of it is instant. The Order sets staggered deadlines running from December 2026 to September 2028, with larger businesses going first and smaller ones getting three months longer. Here is what actually changes for you, and when.

Prescription fees are capped at £21, from March 2027 for the big groups

If your vet charges you for a written prescription so you can buy the medicine cheaper elsewhere, that fee is being capped. The Order sets the cap at £21 for the primary prescription and £12.50 for any additional item prescribed at the same consultation. Large veterinary businesses have to comply from March 2027, with the remaining prescription requirements following in June 2027 for large practices and September 2027 for smaller ones.

That matters because the prescription fee is the thing that decides whether buying online is worth it. On a long-term medication costing £40 a month at the practice and £22 online, a £30 prescription fee wipes out most of the first month’s saving. A £21 cap does not. You will also get standardised posters and information telling you that you can ask for a written prescription and buy generics, which is currently left to you to know.

Written estimates over £500, and itemised bills

Practices will have to give a written estimate whenever the recommended treatment is likely to cost more than £500 including VAT, and to update that estimate in writing if the cost is likely to rise by 20 per cent or £500, whichever is lower. Large practices do this from June 2027, smaller ones from September 2027. Itemised bills arrive on the same timetable.

This is the remedy most likely to change an actual conversation at the desk. At the moment a lot of pet owners find out what a procedure cost when they pay for it. Our guide to finding a good vet in the UK covers the questions worth asking now, before any of this is enforceable.

You will be told who owns the practice

From December 2026 for larger businesses and March 2027 for smaller ones and groups, practices have to make their ownership clear in their public branding. Six large groups own a big share of first-opinion practices in Britain, and many of them trade under the original local name, so most owners have no idea they are using a chain. Alongside that, practices must publish price lists covering more than 40 defined services plus commonly sold parasiticides, and the RCVS is building an enhanced Find a Vet platform, ready by June 2027, with businesses submitting data by September 2027.

Out-of-hours lock-ins ended the day the Order was made

One remedy bites immediately. From September 2026, notice periods longer than 12 months in contracts between practices and third party out-of-hours providers are no longer enforceable, and by December 2026 those providers have to tell practices about the change. That is the plumbing behind why your vet’s emergency cover sometimes sits 40 minutes away and never seems to change. Shorter contracts make it easier for a practice to switch supplier.

Cremation and complaints

By December 2026 for larger businesses and March 2027 for smaller ones, practices must publish their cremation options and prices, and guarantee access to a basic communal cremation. From March 2027 they must run a complaints procedure with published timescales, and engage in independent mediation if an owner asks. The RCVS publishes its first annual complaints report in September 2028.

The Order and the RCVS undertakings are on GOV.UK, and the CMA’s compliance guidance, with the full deadline tables, is here.