21 Nov 2025
Survey by the Federation of Independent Veterinary Practices (FIVP) found only 6.15% of participants reported practices supported plan for a £16 prescription price cap.
Allister Webb
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Image: Ascannio / Adobe Stock
Key aspects of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) plans to reform the sale and administration of veterinary medicines face overwhelming opposition within the sector, new figures suggest.
A survey by the Federation of Independent Veterinary Practices (FIVP) found only 6.15% of participants reported their practices supported the authority’s plan for a £16 prescription price cap. But that proportion fell even further, to just 1.23%, over its call for automatic written prescriptions where medicines are needed regularly.
The picture, based on submissions from more than 2,500 participants, emerged as the federation and other veterinary groups set out their responses to the provisional remedy ideas published by the CMA last month.
Despite warning of a risk of practice closures if the remedies are implemented in their present form, the FIVP and most other sector groups have stressed they remain broadly supportive of both the investigation process and many of the ideas the CMA has put forward to date.
Several of the authority’s other measures, including itemised bills and ownership transparency requirements, also enjoyed overwhelming support from respondents to the FIVP survey.
But, despite the CMA’s insistence that the measures are needed, the strength of professional feeling against its medicine proposals was reflected by a joint submission from the BVA, BSAVA, BVNA, SPVS and VMG, which argued they may themselves be considered “anti-competitive” .
Specifically on the prescription cap, it added: “We have significant concerns that distorting the current market in the manner set out will in fact increase the cost of common and high-volume access point professional services to compensate for lost income from reduced medicine sales.”
The BVA’s latest Voice of the Veterinary Profession survey data also found nearly two-thirds of respondents believed their practices’ viability would be threatened by both the prescription cap (65%) and the requirement for vets to inform clients of alternative online pharmacies (64%).
However, the FIVP submissions go even further, with larger majorities of its survey participants arguing both the written prescription (93.81%; 84.84%) and cost cap (91.09%; 68.61%) remedies would negatively affect both practices’ ability to provide services and broader animal welfare considerations, respectively.
The group has formally objected to both measures and called for a complete review of the requirement for vets to make owners aware of cheaper pharmacy alternatives, which it argues risks creating a new “monopoly” among online suppliers.
Its consultation response said: “The promotion of online pharmacies as a solution to reducing client costs drastically oversimplifies the role of in-house pharmacies and pharmacists in pet care.
“This transactional approach to medicine will not only be devastating to the revenue of the practice but also risks impacting animal welfare.
“In the long run, some medicines may not be readily available in the practice, inconveniencing clients and reducing animal welfare through delayed access.”
Meanwhile, the RCVS has voiced its own concerns about aspects of its role in displaying price information, particularly around the idea of a pet care plan value calculator that it suggested would require specialist support.
Although its consultation response also stressed a willingness to “develop the functionality” of its Find-A-Vet webpage, the college also warned some of the CMA’s proposals had not been raised previously and would need to be costed.
Appearing in a BVA Congress panel session yesterday (20 November) as part of London Vet Show, inquiry group chair Martin Coleman admitted the remedies had yielded “mixed views from across the board” on proposals such as the £16 price cap on prescriptions and the requirement to inform clients they may be able to buy medicines cheaper online.
The responses were all released to coincide with the closure of the formal consultation period on the provisional remedies on 14 November. Final decisions are now expected in around February or March.
