Insights

CMA Vet Reforms: What Locum Vets Need to Know

Last reviewed: 1 October 2026 · Written by Isaac Stevenson BVMSci MRCVS

If you locum, the CMA's new rules reach you in the same way as any other vet. The difference is that you will meet them in a different practice each week, each doing things its own way, and you may not be there the next day to finish what you started.

This is a plain-English summary. It is not legal advice, and the Order itself is the authority. The official documents are linked at the foot of this page.

Do the rules apply to a locum?

Yes. The Order doesn't single locums out. Its duties sit with the practice, and they apply to whoever is doing the consulting that day.

So the practice is the one that has to comply, but on the day it will be you making the prescription offer and spotting when an estimate is due.

The same rule, a different practice every time

The prescription offer is the same everywhere. Whenever you prescribe, you offer a written prescription out loud. What changes is the fee. Helpfully, the poster in every consulting room has to show it. More on the prescription rules.
Estimates work differently on every system. You will know when a work-up is heading past £500. What you won't know is how this practice produces the estimate, so ask on your first morning. More on written estimates.
Own-brand medicines only come up in the groups. If you are in one, ask which products are own-brand, because you have to tell the owner when you prescribe one.

When you won't be there tomorrow

This is the part that is harder for a locum.

A written estimate has to reach the owner by the end of the next working day. If the cost later goes up by 20%, they need a new one. You might be forty miles away by then.

So before you leave, write down the plan, what it is likely to cost, and anything you think could push that up. Then make sure someone knows the estimate is theirs to send.

The dates won't be the same everywhere

The big groups, with 15 or more practices, start earlier than everyone else.

Large groups: The prescription fee cap from 22 March 2027, and the rest from 22 June 2027
Everyone else: All of it from 22 September 2027

So for a few months in 2027, you could be working under the new rules on Monday and the old ones on Tuesday. The simple answer is to do it the new way everywhere.

What the practice owes you

The practice's policy on clinical freedom covers you too. It is there so that nobody working for the practice is pushed into recommending something they wouldn't otherwise choose, and that includes a locum. More on that policy.

The practice also has to train its vets on that policy, and on its complaints process. If nobody mentions either, it is fair to ask.

Five questions for your first morning

What is the written prescription fee here?
How do I produce a written estimate, and who sends it if I'm not back?
Are any of your medicines own-brand?
Where is your policy on clinical freedom, and who do I raise a concern with?
What do I do if an owner wants to complain?

How Vet Amica helps

When you won't be there next week to answer questions, what the owner takes home matters more.

Vet Amica turns a lab report into a plain-English summary for the owner: what was found, what it means, and what happens next, with the practice's prices beside each next step. You edit it and approve it, and nothing reaches the owner until you have.

Vet Amica is not a compliance tool, and no regulator approves software of this kind. The duties under the Order remain the practice's.

Talk to us See how it works

Where to check this yourself

The CMA's guidance for veterinary businesses and vets, and the Order and its Explanatory Note (GOV.UK).

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