If you run or manage an independent practice, you have probably seen the headlines about the CMA and felt the usual mix of dread and fatigue. Another set of rules, another thing to do, on top of a day that is already full. This guide strips out the legal language and tells you what actually changes, and roughly when.
Where things stand right now
The CMA published the final report of its market investigation into veterinary services for household pets on 24 March 2026. That report is final, not a draft and not a consultation. The decisions are made.
What does not yet exist is the legally binding order that turns those decisions into enforceable rules. The CMA has a statutory window to make that order, with a deadline of 23 September 2026, and is consulting on the draft through the summer. So as of now the remedies are settled in principle but not yet enforceable. You cannot fully comply yet because the exact wording is still being finalised, but you can see clearly what is coming.
What the CMA actually found
The investigation was not about whether vets charge too much. It was about whether pet owners have enough information to make an informed choice. The CMA concluded that they often do not. Prices are hard to find before a visit, who owns a practice is not always obvious, and the cost of common treatments is rarely shown up front. The remedies that follow are mostly about fixing that.
The deadlines that apply to you
This is the part that matters most, and there is genuinely good news in it. The rules roll out in stages, and the timing depends on how big you are. The CMA splits the market in two by the number of first-opinion practices a business runs.
- Large groups means 15 or more first-opinion practices. That is the six big consolidators, names like CVS, IVC, Medivet and Pets at Home. They get the shorter windows.
- Small businesses means fewer than 15 first-opinion practices. Almost every independent sits here, and small businesses get the longer windows.
For the price list specifically, large groups get roughly three months from the order and small businesses get roughly six. With the order expected around late September 2026, that points to large groups complying by about December 2026 and independents by about March 2027. Treat those dates as expected rather than fixed, because they move with the order date, and the CMA can extend its own window. But the shape is clear. As an independent, you are in the slower lane, and you have time to do this properly rather than in a panic.
What you will have to display
The binding order will confirm the exact detail, but the final report sets out the package. Expect to have to provide:
- A published price list for a defined set of standard services, covering things like consultations, common vaccinations, diagnostics, microchipping, parasite treatment, written prescriptions and end-of-life options, across the usual cat and dog bands.
- A written estimate in advance for any treatment reasonably likely to cost £500 or more including VAT, with an itemised bill afterwards. Emergencies are the only exception.
- Capped prescription fees. A written prescription fee of no more than £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for each additional one, including VAT.
- Ownership disclosure. Clear statement of whether the practice is part of a large group or independently owned, on signage at the premises and online. For an independent this is an advantage, not a burden. It is worth saying plainly.
How to prepare without drowning the front desk
The instinct is to print a price list, pin it to the website, and call it done. That fails for one simple reason. A price list is not a document, it is a living thing. Costs change, and a published price that is wrong is worse than no price at all, because it sets an expectation you then have to walk back at the counter.
1. Treat the price list as data, not a poster
Keep your prices in one place the whole team trusts, and publish from there. When a price changes once, it should change everywhere it appears. The practices that struggle are the ones with a price on the website, a different one on a printed sheet, and a third in the team’s heads.
2. Make the estimate consistent
A written estimate that looks different every time it is produced is a risk, and now there is a clear trigger for when one is required, the £500 threshold. Standardise the format so any member of the team can generate the same clear document, and so it is obvious when one is due.
3. Decide who owns it
Compliance drifts when nobody owns it. Name one person responsible for keeping the published prices accurate, and give them a way to do it that does not eat an afternoon every week.
Where this is going
The direction of travel is clear. Pet owners will increasingly expect to see prices before they choose a practice, the same way they do for almost every other service they buy. The practices that handle this well will not treat it as a box to tick. They will use the moment to make their pricing genuinely clear, which is a quiet competitive advantage when the practice down the road is still hiding its numbers.
The work underneath all of this is keeping accurate information in one place and getting it in front of clients without adding hours to the week. That is a solvable problem, and it is exactly the kind of thing worth fixing once, properly, rather than patching every time the rules shift.