Vet prescriptions and the new fee cap

If your pet takes medication long-term (for arthritis, a heart condition or skin allergies), the most effective way to cut the cost is a written prescription: ask your vet for one and buy the medicine from any registered pharmacy, often for far less. From 22 March 2027, the fee for writing one is capped at £21 at large groups, and at every practice from 22 September 2027.

The right you already have

You can ask for a written prescription for most prescription medicines once your vet has examined your animal. You’re paying the practice for the clinical decision, not the medicine itself.

The gap can be substantial. The CMA found significant mark-ups on in-practice dispensing. For common long-term medicines, the online price can be a fraction of the practice price, and the saving is often several times the prescription fee.

Two rules of thumb:

• Long-term medication: almost always worth pricing up a written prescription. Repeat prescriptions typically cover multiple supplies for up to six months, so one fee spreads across many purchases.
• One-off or urgent medicines: usually better bought at the practice. Your animal starts treatment immediately, and the saving on a single short course rarely justifies the fee and the wait for delivery.

What the CMA is changing

The CMA’s investigation concluded that this right wasn’t working in practice: many owners didn’t know it existed, and prescription fees were often high enough to cancel the saving. Two remedies address that directly:

1. A fee cap: writing a prescription will cost at most £21 for the first medicine, and £12.50 for each additional medicine. The cap applies from 22 March 2027 for the large groups (15 or more practices or out-of-hours centres) and 22 September 2027 for smaller practices.
2. A duty to tell you: practices will have to make clear that you can take a prescription elsewhere, rather than leaving you to discover it, and give you a standard leaflet if your pet is on ongoing medication. This applies from 22 June 2027 for the large groups and 22 September 2027 for smaller practices.

Until the cap bites, fees remain the practice’s choice, so ask what yours charges. It’s also a useful question when choosing a new practice. Our CMA reforms guide covers the full remedies package, including price lists, ownership disclosure and itemised estimates.

How to do it

1. Ask at the consultation: “Could I have a written prescription for that?” You don’t need to give a reason.
2. Compare prices at one or two VMD-registered online pharmacies and your local pharmacy, including delivery.
3. Check the maths for your case: (practice price) vs (pharmacy price + prescription fee ÷ number of supplies it covers).
4. Order ahead. Post and delivery take days, so don’t run the current supply down to zero first.
5. Use VMD-accredited retailers only. The FAQ below covers buying safely online.