Competition Authority to investigate high fees and low price transparency in the UK vet market

The Competition and Markets Authority are looking into the veterinary sector, concerned about how much people are being charged for treatment, largely as a result of a lack of price transparency in the sector.

Equally, there's concern about the changing nature of the sector, and the decline of independent practices - "Independent practices accounted for 89% of the UK veterinary industry in 2013 - but that had fallen to about 45% by 2021". The concern here is that people may be unaware of whether their veterinary practice is part of a larger group or not.

Interestingly, the application of economic theory might lead you to an interesting conclusion about this - if large groups have emerged, doesn't it suggest that there are decent profits to be made, and that itself hints at firms having some ability to set price, and make abnormal profit.