UK Vet Price Transparency Law 2026: What It Means for You

In January 2026, the UK government took a historic step: for the first time in over 60 years, veterinary practices in England are now required to publish their prices. This came after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) completed its review of the veterinary sector.

What actually changed?

All veterinary practices in England must now publish the prices of their most common services. This includes standard consultations, vaccinations, neutering, microchipping, and emergency consultation fees.

What prompted this?

The CMA launched its investigation in September 2023 after growing public concern about rising vet costs. Between 2016 and 2024, average vet fees rose by around 63 percent, significantly outpacing inflation. Six large groups owned around 60 percent of UK vet practices.

How Vet Fair fits in

We built Vet Fair precisely because this kind of transparency was missing. Now that the law is catching up, our job is to make the published prices actually useful by putting them side-by-side so you can compare across practices in your area.

What still needs to change

The new rules are a good start, but they do not solve everything. Corporate groups that own multiple brands can still make it difficult to tell which practices they own. Out-of-hours pricing remains opaque at many providers.