The Aldi-style insurgents who could be about to shake up the vets market

## Summary
I've been reporting on rising vet bills for over two years, and I've been inundated with pet owners like Louise getting in touch to complain about costs. Louise Burns was surprised by the size of her vet bill The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a government watchdog, says average vet prices across the market rose by 63% between 2016 and 2023 – well above the rate of inflation. The CMA is also likely to call for it to be made easier for pet owners to access cheaper medicines online, including by capping prescription costs and requiring vets to tell pet owners about savings available by buying medicines in this way. He believes these perceptions are a "big challenge" for the industry. "The public are not attuned to the real costs of providing healthcare and the quality of service you get from the veterinary profession is exemplary," he says. "You've never heard of anybody having to wait months and months and months for elective surgery for your dog - it'll be done within a week or two, and the emergency will be done within an hour or two." Secondly, vets want to see the law modernised because the Veterinary Surgeons Act, which sets out how vets are regulated, came into being in 1966 - a time when practices were typically owned and operated by surgeons. "That's not the case now", says Williams.

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The Aldi-style insurgents who could be about to shake up the vets market
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Jim Connolly
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When Louise Burns noticed that her dog Bow was breathing oddly in October 2023, she took the Boston terrier straight to the vet. Louise recalls being told that Bow's airway was swollen - Bow was given a tracheostomy and then a further operation to help her breathe more easily. By the time Louise took her home after four days, the bill had reached £7,783.77.
Louise's insurance only covered the first £3,000, but in the midst of an emergency situation, she felt she had little choice other than to pay up: "You're not really in a position to go and get a second opinion where you've got a dog that's not breathing properly," says Louise, 72, from Thundersley, Essex, who contacted BBC Your Voice. Nonetheless, it felt like a lot of money to her.
I've been reporting on rising vet bills for over two years, and I've been inundated with pet owners like Louise getting in touch to complain about costs.
Louise Burns was surprised by the size of her vet bill
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a government watchdog, says average vet prices across the market rose by 63% between 2016 and 2023 – well above the rate of inflation. In order to tackle this, the CMA has carried out a formal UK-wide investigation into the industry and will soon publish a final report setting out changes to how it wants vets to operate.
Meanwhile, many vets have told the BBC they feel under pressure to make money for their increasingly small pool of owners. In 2013, only 10% of vet practices in the UK were owned by large corporate groups. Now that figure stands at 60%.
Claire Batty, who opened her own veterinary practice on the outskirts of Whalley, Lancashire, in 2023, says she previously worked for one of the big firms, but left after becoming fed up with being "told by somebody who's sat behind a desk you're not earning enough money".
Many pet owners suspect this is pushing prices up. However, Rob Williams, president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) - which speaks for the big operators as well as independent vets - says it's "too reductive to say this one thing happened, therefore all the prices have shot up".
He and the chains tell me prices have jumped because consumers are increasingly opting for newly available hi-tech treatments for their animals which do not come cheap. Some suggest the public may need to consider whether it is always appropriate to opt for the most expensive treatment and also to assess whether choosing a certain breed is likely to push up their bills.
What seems undeniable, however, is that prices are high and people are struggling to afford them. So what, if anything, can be done to bring them down?
Letting in daylight?
UK pet owners spent £6.3bn on vet and other pet-care services in 2024, according to the CMA - which works out as just over £365 per pet-owning household.
Prices for veterinary services differ vastly across the UK. Clear Vet's analysis of more than 500 practices found that an out‑of‑hours emergency consultation costs an average of £209 nationwide, but the figure drops to £142 in Yorkshire and rises to £295 in Manchester.
The CMA's report is keenly anticipated by vets and pet owners alike. In a provisional report published at the end of last year, it identified a series of issues including a lack of transparency around the ownership of individual practices, and whether pet owners have enough information about pricing. It also highlighted the concentration of ownership of vet practices and clinics.
Now it is expected to order measures to make vets more open about prices and who owns them.
PA Media
The CMA is expected to call for easier access to cheaper medicines online
If you look up a vet in your local area online, it may take a trawl of the small print on their website to find out who owns them. And working out how much treatment will cost will likely be even trickier - the initial CMA investigation found 84% of vet practice websites displayed no pricing information at all.
But many vets I speak to are nervous that measures including enforcing more transparency could make the cost of running a practice more expensive, especially for smaller businesses.
The CMA is also likely to call for it to be made easier for pet owners to access cheaper medicines online, including by capping prescription costs and requiring vets to tell pet owners about savings available by buying medicines in this way.
However, many I speak to in the industry, including the BVA, are concerned that this move could end up costing consumers in the long run.
Williams argues there are two potential unintended consequences of this likely move.
He and others have pointed out that the online pharmacies are owned by some of the large chains and "two of the large veterinary groups account for somewhere between 70% and 80% of the volume of medication supplied through that route".
He feels it i

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- A number of new vet startups that have used subscription models to "bundle professional services" like some dental chains do, and they hope new innovation like this could shake things up. "Subscriptions give predictability, transparency and remove barriers to care," says Francesca Verney, veterinary director at independent practice Pet People in London. "It's great for vets as we get to see patients often before they get really sick - removing suffering and intervention, and it's equally valuable to clients when budgeting for their pet's care." Bringing vets up to date Technology could also help improve services.
- But while this is really important to vets, and Williams says he welcomes it, he doesn't believe it will have any impact for customers.
- Williams is not saying we shouldn't buy these breeds - but he does say prospective owners should recognise that they will come with significant costs. "It is something that people don't think enough about," he says. "They're often swayed by fashion and social media influencers and that's not a good thing.

### Areas for Consideration
- He believes these perceptions are a "big challenge" for the industry. "The public are not attuned to the real costs of providing healthcare and the quality of service you get from the veterinary profession is exemplary," he says. "You've never heard of anybody having to wait months and months and months for elective surgery for your dog - it'll be done within a week or two, and the emergency will be done within an hour or two." Secondly, vets want to see the law modernised because the Veterinary Surgeons Act, which sets out how vets are regulated, came into being in 1966 - a time when practices were typically owned and operated by surgeons. "That's not the case now", says Williams.
- Equally, if somebody has done the research and knows Breed X has problem Y, and I know that that is expensive to do, but are happy to take that on board, because they can afford it that's okay too." Pugs are popular - but many have issues with their breathing Instead, for cats he suggests a "regular kind of moggy domestic British cat" and for dogs he says "all things being equal, a mixed breed dog is probably more likely to be healthy, than a pedigree dog".
- Advocates of pedigree breeds dispute this, however.

### Implications
- The Aldi-style insurgents who could be about to shake up the vets market 10 minutes ago Share Save Jim Connolly Share Save Getty Images When Louise Burns noticed that her dog Bow was breathing oddly in October 2023, she took the Boston terrier straight to the vet.
- In order to tackle this, the CMA has carried out a formal UK-wide investigation into the industry and will soon publish a final report setting out changes to how it wants vets to operate.
- Some suggest the public may need to consider whether it is always appropriate to opt for the most expensive treatment and also to assess whether choosing a certain breed is likely to push up their bills.
- PA Media The CMA is expected to call for easier access to cheaper medicines online If you look up a vet in your local area online, it may take a trawl of the small print on their website to find out who owns them.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers vets, pet, owners topics. Notable strengths include discussion of vets. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 2170.