15 Oct 2025
Concerns have been raised about the implications of newly published remedy proposals, including a levy on veterinary business, despite union claims they don’t go far enough.
Allister Webb
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Image: © Erik Lam / Adobe Stock
More needs to be done to ensure regulators’ reforms of the UK veterinary sector are “workable and deliverable”, a major care provider has warned.
The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) provisional decisions, released earlier today (15 October), have thus far been broadly, though cautiously, welcomed across the industry.
But union officials have claimed further action is still needed, even though they say they back most of the suggested measures.
Many of the inquiry’s 21 remedy ideas had been widely anticipated in areas such as price and practice ownership transparency, prescription provision and how treatment costs are presented to pet owners.
The CVS Group said it was pleased there were fewer proposals than at earlier stages of the process, but stressed it did not regard all the suggested measures as “fully justified”.
It said it would work with the authority “to refine the remedies package to ensure it is workable and deliverable and have plans in place to implement them”.
Another of the sector’s biggest players, IVC Evidensia, voiced concerns about the potential impact of the measures, which it suggested could disproportionately affect independent practices.
A spokesperson said: “While we already comply with a number of the CMA’s proposals, the full package will inevitably increase the administrative burden for the veterinary sector.”
But while he acknowledged there was “a lot to consider and digest” from the proposals, XL Vets chief executive Andrew Curwen claimed the authority had “clearly listened” to its submissions responding to an earlier working paper on potential remedies.
He said: “Practices that are owned and run by people who live within the local communities that they serve have the opportunity to shine as beacons of credibility, capability, integrity and value.”
One idea that seems likely to trigger substantial debate is the proposal for a levy which would be used to cover the costs of monitoring and other activities the CMA envisages being taken on by the RCVS.
The authority’s summary report said the charge would be imposed on businesses “in proportion to their size”, with estimated annual costs of around £330 per first opinion practice for monitoring and around £150 for a recommended biennial survey of pet owners.
The British Veterinary Union (BVU) has backed the idea of such a charge being imposed on businesses rather than individual clinicians but argued the proposed measures were insufficient to address the present challenges.
Its chair, Suzanna Hudson-Cooke, said: “While we welcome this report from the CMA, more must be done to stop poverty pay in the veterinary sector and the overcharging of pet owners.”
