Blogs · July 2026

Do vets have to publish their prices?

Not currently, and most do not. The CMA found fewer than 40% publish prices and only 29% of clients got written pricing. Its consultation on changing that closes 23 September 2026.

The short answer: veterinary practices are not currently required to publish prices, but the Competition and Markets Authority found that fewer than 40% do, and that only 29% of clients received written pricing. It is consulting on changing that until 23 September 2026, and one remedy on the table is a required written estimate for treatment over £500. Yours is the one profession in this comparison where somebody has actually measured this, and the one that also carries a 24-hour emergency duty.

Do vets have to publish their prices?

Not currently, and most do not. The Competition and Markets Authority has done what nobody has done for dentistry, care homes or private GP practices. It looked, and it counted.

  • Fewer than 40% of veterinary practices publish their prices.
  • Only 29% of clients received written pricing.

Those are the CMA's own findings, not numbers it is quoting from somebody else. That distinction matters more than it sounds, and we come back to it below.

What is the CMA veterinary price transparency consultation?

A live consultation, open July 2026 and closing on 23 September 2026, on remedies from the CMA's veterinary market investigation. Price transparency is central to it.

WhatWhen
CMA price transparency update published18 November 2025
Consultation on remedies openedJuly 2026
Consultation closes23 September 2026
Proposed remedy: written estimate for treatment over £500Proposed, not in force

So whether you have to publish prices is not a philosophical question for your practice. It is being decided this quarter, and the window to say something about it closes in September.

How do pet owners actually choose a vet?

Most do not shop around. The CMA's demand-side work found:

  • 51% considered only one practice.
  • 55% cited availability as a factor.

Read that next to the price findings. Most owners ring one practice. If it does not answer, or cannot tell them what something costs, that is the whole decision made. Not a comparison, not a shortlist. One call.

Is the price conversation hard on veterinary staff?

It is at least named, and it is measured. The RCVS Survey of the Veterinary Profession 2024 found:

  • 49% reporting stress.
  • 54% citing client expectations.
  • 46% citing affordability discussions.

Affordability discussions are, in plain terms, the price conversation. Nearly half the profession names it among the things contributing to the pressure.

To be careful with that, because the distinction is ours to keep: the survey does not say the price conversation causes the stress, and we are not claiming it does. It says it sits among the things the profession names.

Do vets have to provide 24-hour emergency cover?

Yes, and this is a duty no other practice type in this comparison carries. The RCVS Code obliges practices to provide or arrange 24-hour emergency first aid and pain relief.

That is not a service-level choice you make. It is an obligation. And it changes what your phone is: not just a service channel but a regulatory surface. A dental practice that misses a 7pm call has lost a booking. A veterinary practice sits inside a duty to provide or arrange cover.

This is also the sharpest limit on what anyone should let an agent do for you, which we come to below.

Are NHS dental bands still used across the UK?

No. Wales abolished the band system on 1 April 2026.

Included here because it is the cleanest example of what the CMA consultation is really about. A whole profession's public-facing price language changed on a known date, and most copy describing NHS dental charges as "Band 1, Band 2, Band 3" as though it applies across the UK is now wrong in at least one nation.

If a remedy lands in your profession, your fee pages, estimates and reception scripts will need the same sweep. It is worth knowing now what you would have to change.

Has anyone measured price transparency in the other professions?

No, and that is the point. Dental practices are required by the General Dental Council to give patients clear information about costs, and patients are entitled to know what treatment will cost before it starts. The duty is explicit. Nobody has published a measurement of whether practices keep to it. The last serious UK look we could find was the Office of Fair Trading, in 2012.

Care home fees are not price-regulated at all. About £1,594 a week for the average self-funder against about £1,225 for local-authority funding (LaingBuisson, 35th edition, 2025), with a separate market view putting the average at about £1,298 (carehome.co.uk, September 2025).

So your profession is the one where the evidence exists. That is uncomfortable in the short run, because uncomfortable findings are what evidence produces. It is also why the consultation is happening to you and not to them.

What we cut, and why

This list is here because on this subject the bad numbers are more available than the good ones. If a supplier quotes you any of the following, ask them who counted, and when.

  • The dental price figures (£55, £80, 23%, 14%). They sit on a CMA page, which is why they look authoritative, but the CMA's own wording is that "independent sources suggest" them. The CMA is repeating, not producing, and will publish its own in 2027. A figure on a regulator's page is not automatically the regulator's figure. Worth holding onto in your own reading of the consultation.
  • The vet shortage narrative. We are not using it. RCVS and IES work projects supply reaching about 99% of demand by 2035, which is not the story the shortage framing tells.
  • A GDC quote that would have been the best line we had. The page returns a rendered shell that does not contain it, and the standards PDF returns a server error. Not used until someone opens the document and sees it.
  • Any US answering-service statistic on missed calls. Not UK, not comparable, widely recycled.
  • "Band 1/2/3" framing. Wrong in Wales since 1 April 2026.

Can an AI agent answer the price question?

Yes, from your own published fees, consistently, without anyone stopping mid-consult to do it. If a remedy does land in September, answering the price question the same way every time and keeping the record of having done it is the work either way.

What it will not do:

  • Quote a price that is not in its knowledge base. No inference, no "usually around". If the fee is not there, it says a person will confirm.
  • Give clinical advice. It stops and hands to a person.
  • Triage an emergency. This matters more in your profession than anywhere else on this site. The RCVS 24-hour duty is yours. An agent routes to your existing arrangement. It does not substitute for it, and nobody should sell it to you as though it could.

And one honest warning: if your fees genuinely cannot be written down, do not start. An agent reading a stale fee list will confidently quote a price you no longer charge.

Frequently asked questions

Do vets have to publish prices in the UK?

Not currently. The CMA found fewer than 40% do, and only 29% of clients got written pricing. A consultation on changing this closes 23 September 2026.

What is the £500 vet estimate rule?

A remedy proposed by the CMA requiring a written estimate for treatment over £500. It is proposed, not in force.

Do vets have to provide 24-hour emergency cover?

Yes. The RCVS Code obliges practices to provide or arrange 24-hour emergency first aid and pain relief. No other practice type in this comparison carries that duty.

Do dentists have to give you a price before treatment?

Yes. GDC standard 2.4 requires clear information about costs, and patients are entitled to know what treatment will cost before it starts and to be told about any changes.

Are NHS dental bands still in use?

Not in Wales, which abolished them on 1 April 2026. Any UK-wide "Band 1/2/3" description is now inaccurate.

Sources

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