OpenClosed consultation

Reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, The Scottish Government, Northern Ireland Executive and Welsh Government
Published
28 January 2026
Last updated
27 May 2026 — See all updates

We are analysing your feedback

Visit this page again soon to download the outcome to this public feedback.

Detail of feedback received

We received 6,217 responses to this consultation. 

On 24 March 2026, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published their final report after the market investigation into veterinary services for household pets. This contains recommendations for government on new legislation to tackle the issues it has found that have led to an adverse effect on competition.

Due to the large number of responses received and the need to review these alongside reviewing the recommendations from the CMA’s market investigation, there will be a delay in publishing the summary of responses and government response.

We aim to set out the government’s vision for the veterinary sector and respond to the consultation and the recommendations from the CMA in the summer.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the consultation, please contact us at vsa-reform@defra.gov.uk.

Summary

Consulting on reforms to the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, including recognising the full veterinary team, modernising the regulator and regulating businesses.

This consultation iswas being held on another website.

This consultation closesran atfrom
to

Consultation description

We would like to know your thoughts about potential reforms to the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966.

This could include:

  • regulating all professions in the veterinary team

  • protecting the titles of professions in the veterinary team

  • regulating veterinary and animal healthcare businesses to protect both the public, consumers and animal health and welfare

  • updating the regulator’s structure, to ensure it’s fit for purpose and aligns with the government regulation action plan

Updates to this page

Published 28 January 2026
Last updated 27 May 2026 href="#full-history">+ show all updates

  1. We received 6,217 responses to this consultation. The summary of responses will be published later in the year.

  2. First published.

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