UK Pet Insurance Market Report 2026
The CMA Went After Drug Prices. But 40 to 80% of Your Claim Cost Is Treatments.
Managing a pet book right now means holding the line on cost in a market where you do not set the prices.
You are expected to:
- Contain claims cost while vet fees outrun general inflation
- Protect profitability as your book ages
- Do it without meaningful leverage over the veterinary supply chain
The CMA has spent two years investigating why the market works this way. Its remedies will improve transparency. They will not reduce your claims costs.
Most of the scrutiny has landed on drug pricing, because medicines are easy to compare like-for-like. Our line-item invoice analysis shows treatments account for 40 to 80% of a claim. The industry is examining the smaller half.
This report shows you where pet claims cost is actually made, and what you can still influence.
What You’ll Walk Away With:
- Where your claims cost actually sits, and why the area attracting the most attention is not where your exposure is
- How claims inflation has changed shape since 2020, and why the drivers behind it need different responses
- What consolidation has done to your book, and how to measure your own exposure to it
- The number at the start of a claim that predicts its total cost, and what to do with it
- The point at which an ageing book starts to hurt profitability, and why market averages will not warn you
- Which cost levers are quick wins and which need structural change
- What happens next, drawn from markets that have already been through transparency reform, including where it made prices worse
- Six practical recommendations you can start on now
Built on Claims Data, Not Commentary
This is not a round-up of press coverage.
It combines ABI market statistics and the CMA’s investigation with our own line-item veterinary invoice analysis, PetsQube data and research prepared for the Procurato-sponsored ABI Pet Insurance Roundtable.
The market has no shortage of opinion about vet costs right now. What claims leaders need is the number, the cause and the option.
Why This Matters
Pet owners rarely compare vet prices, most are unaware of cheaper routes to the same medicines, and care is usually sought in urgent, emotional circumstances. Insurance blunts price sensitivity further.
That is a market which will not correct itself just because more prices get published.
The reforms will hand everyone better information at the same moment. The advantage goes to whoever is set up to use it.
Get the Report
Download it and see where pet claims cost is really made, what is driving it and which levers are still yours to pull.
Explore Additional Resources
We've Already Built the Networks the Report Talks About
A mature general insurer with one of the largest UK pet books had costs spiralling and no transparency on where they were going. We ran a competitive tender for a preferred referral vet network, trained call handlers to sell it, and implemented a dedicated pet claims management system. Savings came in at over 8% of total pet claims spend.
We Called This Before the CMA Did
Back in January 2024 we published our view on where pet claims inflation was really coming from, and why the CMA investigation was unlikely to fix it. Worth reading alongside the report to see how the argument has held up.
Explore more
Explore how Procurato’s approach stands apart
Explore How We Support Procurement Leaders
