UK · CMA veterinary market investigation
Preparing your business for the CMA reforms
Price lists, written estimates, itemised bills, prescription information, and a formal complaints process. One practice or fifty, it applies. Businesses with 15 or more practices or out-of-hours centres start from 22 December 2026, smaller businesses from 22 March 2027. Here is what changes, when your deadlines land, and what you can already do inside Provet.
Deadlines to be compliant by
Order in force 23 September 2026
Today
ORDER MADE
Sep 2026
The Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026 comes into force. Out-of-hours notice periods longer than 12 months stop being enforceable.
+3
22 Dec 2026
Price lists, pet care plans, clinical freedom policies, cremation. Larger businesses.
+6
22 Mar 2027
Same again for smaller. Ownership and complaints for everyone. Fee cap for larger.
+9
22 Jun 2027
Estimates, itemised bills and prescription information. Larger businesses.
+12
22 Sep 2027
Everything remaining for smaller. Practice data to the RCVS.
+24
Sep 2028
RCVS publishes its first annual complaints report.
* This page is based on The Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026, made 22 September 2026.
What is changing
Seven things your business needs to prepare for
Larger businesses run 15 or more practices or out-of-hours centres, smaller businesses fewer than 15.
01
Pricing transparency
A standard price list for a defined set of services, priced by six standardised pet categories, within one click of your homepage and on display in each practice's reception. Parasiticide prices too, with a link to the VMD Register of Online Retailers.
Larger by 22 Dec 2026
Smaller by 22 Mar 2027
02
Written estimates
A written estimate for any treatment pathway likely to cost £500 or more including VAT, where more than £100 of that relates to costs still to be incurred. If the likely total rises, you update it in writing.
Larger by 22 Jun 2027
Smaller by 22 Sep 2027
03
Prescriptions
Offer a written prescription out loud whenever you prescribe, unless the medicine is needed for urgent administration. Hard copy by the end of the consultation or digitally by the end of the second working day, with fees capped. Name the reference product when you dispense own-brand.
Larger · fee cap by 22 Mar 2027
Larger · rest by 22 Jun 2027
Smaller by 22 Sep 2027
04
Itemised bills
An itemised bill separating medicines, other goods and services, and outside services with their charges, detailed enough that an owner understands what they paid for.
Larger by 22 Jun 2027
Smaller by 22 Sep 2027
05
Complaints
A published complaints process, a reviewed complaint log, the RCVS redress decision tree on display, and mediation where a complaint is not resolved in house. Tight response deadlines apply.
All businesses by 22 Mar 2027
06
Pet care plans
Every included service with its frequency, standalone price, and cancellation terms. If you advertise a saving, show how you calculated it.
Larger by 22 Dec 2026
Smaller by 22 Mar 2027
07
End-of-life care
Offer a basic communal cremation, publish both cremation prices, and discuss every option with the owner in writing before they decide, including going direct to a crematorium or taking their pet home. Add-ons like urns and paw prints are priced separately.
Larger by 22 Dec 2026
Smaller by 22 Mar 2027
What is changing
How Provet supports your patient's journey
Almost all of this lands inside a single appointment. Here is each moment, what it asks of you, and where Provet fits.
The record is the evidence
Estimates, prescriptions, invoices and the client conversation all sit against the consultation. If you are ever asked to show what was offered and when, it is already there.
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Stage
CMA requirements
Where Provet fits
Stage 1
Appointment booked
CMA requirements
Booking confirmations need to carry the consultation fee, the price of any pre-booked standard treatments, and a direct link to your published price list. The RCVS standardised prescription text is now published and can go in them too.
Where Provet fits
Online Booking shows fees or starting-from prices before a client confirms. Your clinic price list also sits on your Online Booking profile page.
Stage 2
Consultation
CMA requirements
Your veterinary surgeons offer a written prescription out loud whenever medicine is prescribed, unless needed for urgent administration, name the reference product where an own-brand medicine is used, and work to policies that protect clinical freedom.
Where Provet fits
This one is for your team. What Provet gives you is the record: the prescription, the medicine chosen, and the client conversation all sit in one place, so if you are ever asked to show the offer was made, the evidence exists. AI Scribe writes the consultation up from your voice, which means the record gets made without adding a step at the end of a busy list.
Stage 3
Estimate
CMA requirements
A written estimate where a treatment pathway is reasonably likely to cost £500 or more including VAT and more than £100 of that is still to be incurred. It must reach the owner by the end of the working day after the pathway is recommended, and be updated in writing when the total is likely to rise by 20% or £500, whichever is lower. On a £4,000 estimate that trigger is £500, not £800. Most teams assume the percentage.
Where Provet fits
Create and share an estimate linked directly to the consultation, and collect an e-signature. Declined items stay visible. Nothing prompts you when a pathway reaches the threshold, so spotting it stays with your team. Provet does have an upper spend limit, separate from estimates, which asks for confirmation before it is increased. Estimates have to be kept for 12 months after treatment ends, or until a complaint is resolved. They stay on the consultation record.
Stage 4
Treatment
CMA requirements
Where the likely total moves past the trigger, the client needs a further written update. In a genuine emergency the estimate is deferred rather than waived: you provide it as soon as reasonably possible once the emergency has passed.
Where Provet fits
Attach the estimate to the consultation and Provet flags it when you go past the total, on the consultation page as you work. It also shows on the invoice, though less prominently. It is worth deciding internally now who watches for the flag and who sends the client the update.
Stage 5
Prescription
CMA requirements
Hard copy by the end of the consultation or digital by the end of the second working day, where the owner requests one. £21.40 for the first medicine, £12.70 for each additional medicine in the same consultation, both including VAT. A flyer on the second dispensing of an ongoing medication. One consultation can produce more than one prescription, so the cap is per medicine per consultation, not per prescription.
Where Provet fits
Generate a written prescription from the consultation record and sign it electronically. No printing, no scanning. Prescription and refill history shows which medications are ongoing, though nothing prompts you that a second dispensing has triggered the flyer. That catch is your process. Sending it by the end of the second working day is your team's responsibility, and the capped fee is still added manually today.
Stage 6
Invoice
CMA requirements
An itemised bill separating individual medicines, other goods and services, and outside services with any administration charges. Plus the standardised prescription text where medicine was dispensed.
Where Provet fits
Provet produces line-item invoices. Worth checking your invoice print settings because the fields you need may be switched off and the defaults were not written with this remedy in mind. The Order now specifies the exact invoice wording, which includes your own prescription fee, and requires it in the footer in the same font and no smaller than the main text. That is a print settings job.
Stage 7
Complaint, if required
CMA requirements
If you cannot resolve a complaint within ten working days it becomes actionable. From there you have five working days to acknowledge it in writing and eight weeks to respond in full, with a hard backstop of 12 weeks if you write inside the eight weeks explaining why longer is needed. You also keep and review a complaint log, display the RCVS redress decision tree, and take part in mediation in good faith.
Where Provet fits
There is no complaints module in Provet, and as far as we know there is not one in any veterinary PIMS. So this needs designing as a process. What you can build with today: forms and e-signature to capture and acknowledge a complaint, with a record it was issued.
What is coming in Provet: 2-Way Conversations and text templates, so client messaging sits in one place rather than spread across email, phone, and text.
What is coming in Provet: 2-Way Conversations and text templates, so client messaging sits in one place rather than spread across email, phone, and text.
What you need to do
Your CMA readiness checklist
Ordered by deadline. Most of it is yours, some is ours, and a few things nobody can act on yet until further guidance is provided.
Comply by 22 December 2026 for larger businesses
22 March 2027 for smaller
Remedy
What you need to do
Where Provet fits
Remedy
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2b
Standard price list
What you need to do
Publish a standard price list, one click from your homepage and on display in each practice.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Item lists can be exported. To export bundles, please speak with your Customer Success Manager. We are also building a Prices button into an embeddable version of the Online Booking widget, for one-click access from your homepage.
Remedy
∙
2b
Standard price list
What you need to do
Update your published price list before new prices are charged. This one never stops, it is not a launch task.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Ongoing. You also have to tell the RCVS about a price change before you charge it.
Remedy
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2c
Parasiticides price list
What you need to do
Publish prices for parasiticides selling 100 or more units a year at each practice, or your top ten by sales if fewer than ten qualify. Include a link to the VMD Register of Online Retailers.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Remedy
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2c
Parasiticides price list
What you need to do
Display a notice alongside the parasiticide list making clear it shows prices where a medicine is prescribed, not a menu of options.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Remedy
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2d
Pet care plan information
What you need to do
Publish pet care plan detail: every service, its frequency, its standalone price, cancellation terms, and how any saving was calculated.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Remedy
∙
2a
Basic service information
What you need to do
Publish basic service information: out-of-hours arrangements, staff qualifications, PSS accreditations.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Remedy
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5
Clinical freedom
What you need to do
Put written clinical freedom policies in place, aligned to the RCVS Codes and Guidance.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Remedy
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2d
Pet care plan information
What you need to do
Send a reminder to clients before an annual pet care plan auto-renews.
Where Provet fits
Configure in Provet
If you are using Provet's Health Plans functionality, you can set up automatic notifications to clients.
Remedy
∙
12
Cremation services
What you need to do
Split bundled cremation items so add-ons are separately priced.
Where Provet fits
Configure in Provet
If you have a single line item covering an individual cremation plus a paw print, you will need to split these into two separate line items. We suggest using bundles to make it efficient for your teams to find what they need.
Remedy
∙
12
Cremation services
What you need to do
Set out cremation options in writing before an owner decides.
Where Provet fits
Configure in Provet
Once the items are split, you can build a transparent estimate the owner receives and signs electronically. They can decline individual options at the point of signing. You will still need separate written information covering the options that do not involve you.
Remedy
∙
12
Cremation services
What you need to do
Discuss the options with the owner before they decide, unless they would rather not.
Where Provet fits
In Provet
Publishing them is not enough. The Order requires a conversation unless the owner declines one.
Remedy
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2b
Standard price list
What you need to do
Show pricing at online booking.
Where Provet fits
In Provet
Remedy
∙
2b
Standard price list
What you need to do
Include pricing and a price list link in booking confirmations.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Provet shows pricing before a client confirms, and holds your price list on your Online Booking profile page, but this is not currently inside the confirmation message.
Comply by 22 March 2027, all businesses
Remedy
What you need to do
Where Provet fits
Remedy
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1
Ownership information
What you need to do
If you operate more than one practice or other veterinary services, display ownership information on your website, signage, premises, and communications. Covers practices, online pharmacies, referral centres, out-of-hours, labs and crematoria. The group name also has to appear in your page metadata, in paid and organic search results, and in online map listings.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Remedy
∙
13
In-house complaint procedure
What you need to do
Publish a written complaints process, keep and review a complaint log. The log needs seven specified fields, keeping for 12 months after resolution, and submitting to the RCVS in their format on request. Your complaint process also has to appear on invoices and on reception signage, with a named contact, and your team needs training on it.
Where Provet fits
Your process
2-Way Conversations and text templates are coming, which will keep client messaging in one place, but the log and the review cycle are your process.
Remedy
∙
13
In-house complaint procedure
What you need to do
Display the RCVS redress decision tree in every practice reception and on your website.
Where Provet fits
Waiting on the RCVS
Remedy
∙
14
Participate in mediation
What you need to do
Take part in mediation in good faith where a complaint is unresolved.
Where Provet fits
Your process
22 March 2027 for larger businesses
22 September 2027 for smaller
Remedy
What you need to do
Where Provet fits
Remedy
∙
10
Cap on fees for written prescriptions
What you need to do
Charge no more than £21.40 for the first medicine and £12.70 for each additional medicine in the same consultation, both including VAT. The cap also applies to a first medicine prescribed outside a consultation. Both figures rise each April from 2028.
Where Provet fits
In development in Provet
Today the fee is added manually as a separate charge. We are building automatic charging, with an initial fee for the first medicine and a reduced fee for each subsequent one in the same consultation.
Remedy
∙
10
Cap on fees for written prescriptions
What you need to do
Put policies in place so the length of a course is the same whether you dispense it or write a prescription for it. Applies to all POM-V medication except controlled drugs.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Worth checking what your team reaches for by default in each case. The Order puts it plainly: the clinical decision about how long to prescribe for must be made independently of how the owner will buy the medicine.
Comply by 22 June 2027 for larger businesses
22 September 2027 for smaller
Remedy
What you need to do
Where Provet fits
Remedy
∙
4a
Provide written estimates
What you need to do
Give a written estimate where a treatment pathway is reasonably likely to cost £500 or more including VAT and more than £100 is still to be incurred, by the end of the working day after it is recommended. Update it in writing if the total is likely to rise by 20% or £500, whichever is lower. Keep it for 12 months. An owner can decline one outright.
Where Provet fits
In Provet
Create and share an estimate linked to the consultation. There is no automatic trigger at the threshold, so it is your team's responsibility to generate estimates as and when required. Within Provet, there is a separate upper spend limit prompt that asks for confirmation before it is raised.
Remedy
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4b
Provide itemised bills
What you need to do
Issue itemised bills separating medicines, goods and services, and outside services.
Where Provet fits
Configure in Provet
Line-item invoices are standard, but the required fields may be hidden in your print settings. Fixed-price bundles need their main components identified, with standalone prices where those components are sold separately too.
Remedy
∙
6
Prescription information
What you need to do
Offer a written prescription out loud in every consultation where medicine is prescribed, unless required for urgent administration.
Where Provet fits
Your process
This is training, not configuration.
Remedy
∙
7
Reducing barriers to buying online
What you need to do
Produce and electronically sign a written prescription.
Where Provet fits
In Provet
You can do this from the consultation record, without printing or scanning.
Remedy
∙
7
Reducing barriers to buying online
What you need to do
Issue written prescriptions in hard copy at the end of the consultation, or digitally by the end of the second working day.
Where Provet fits
Your process
Today this means saving a PDF and sending it on.
Remedy
∙
6
Prescription information
What you need to do
Include the RCVS standardised prescription text on appointment confirmations and on invoices where medicine was dispensed.
Where Provet fits
Configure in Provet
The Order publishes both wordings in full. The invoice version includes your own prescription fee and belongs in your print settings footer.
Remedy
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8
Own brand medication
What you need to do
Name the reference product where an own-brand medicine is prescribed, on the label, the invoice, and in the consultation.
Where Provet fits
In development in Provet
In development for the label and invoice. Our stock team is building product-level flagging so the reference product surfaces consistently. The consultation part is for your team.
Remedy
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6
Prescription information
What you need to do
Display the standard written prescription notice at A3 or larger in every waiting or reception area and every consulting room, each showing that practice's own prescription fee.
Where Provet fits
Waiting on the RCVS
Waiting on the RCVS for the artwork.
Remedy
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6
Prescription information
What you need to do
Give new clients the RCVS prescription literature when they register, and all existing clients within six months of your compliance date. It also has to sit within two clicks of your homepage.
Where Provet fits
Your process
There is currently no native workflow that emails a document to a client group on a trigger. Reaching your existing list is a one-off exercise, and your marketing tool may be the better route.
Remedy
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9
Ongoing medication information
What you need to do
Give the RCVS flyer on the second dispensing of an ongoing medication.
Where Provet fits
Waiting on the RCVS
The RCVS produces the A5 flyer and supplies it digitally. Provet shows ongoing medications.
Comply by 22 September 2027, all businesses
Remedy
What you need to do
Where Provet fits
Remedy
∙
3
Practice comparison
What you need to do
Submit practice information to the RCVS for Find a Vet and approved third parties. The deadline is three months after the RCVS finishes its own work, or 22 September 2027, whichever is later.
Where Provet fits
Waiting on the RCVS
Waiting on the RCVS web form. Submitting is your process.
Ongoing, from 30 days after each deadline
Remedy
What you need to do
Where Provet fits
Remedy
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24
Attestations
What you need to do
If you run more than one practice or out-of-hours centre, submit a signed attestation confirming compliance within 30 days of each deadline, then annually by 30 September 2027 and each September after. It has to be signed by a CEO, managing director or senior director. Out-of-hours attestations go to the CMA rather than the RCVS.
Your process
Remedy
∙
24
Attestations
What you need to do
Bring any practice you acquire into compliance within 30 days.
Your process
WHAT IS NEXT
In the works at Provet
Here is what we are building to make the new CMA requirements easier to manage in Provet.
In development
Prescription fee automation
The capped structure is being built: an initial fee for the first medicine, and an automatically reduced fee for each subsequent medicine in the same consultation. Today the fee is added manually as a separate charge. We expect this to be in place ahead of the first fee cap deadline.
In development
One-click access to practice prices
We are building a new version of the Provet Online Booking widget that practices can embed directly on their website. It will include a dedicated Prices button, giving pet owners one-click access to your prices from the homepage.
In development
Own-brand medication flagging
Our stock team is working on flagging own-brand products, so the reference product can be surfaced consistently.
In development
Client messaging
2-Way Conversations and text templates are being delivered, so client messaging sits in one place. There is no dedicated complaints module planned, so the process itself stays yours.
RESOURCES
Read further
Blog
The UK CMA veterinary ruling: what every practice needs to know
Read the blog
Official guidance
Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026
Read on GOV.UK
Case study
Milestone Vets on preparing for the CMA
Read the case study
Blog
The CMA Vet Investigation: Thoughts From UK and US Veterinarians
Read the blog post
Preguntas frecuentes
Respuestas rápidas a preguntas frecuentes
Is the CMA Order now in force?
Does my business count as larger or smaller?
What happens if we do not comply?