Data policy & price methodology

Provenance labels

Where known, we also show confirmation date, VAT included/excluded, whether a fee is fixed, an estimate, a starting price, or subject to clinical assessment, and short inclusion/exclusion notes. We never invent those details — when missing, we say so or omit them.

How prices are collected and checked

• Practice portal. Approved practice owners publish catalogue-mapped fees. Those tips are labelled Practice verified and receive a confirmation timestamp.
• Community submissions. Pet-owner reports enter a moderation queue before publication as Community reported.
• Checks. Amounts are validated for missing fields, implausible bands, and treatment mapping. Large changes can trigger extra review. Live comparison does not recycle unverifiable historical scrape data.
• Reconfirm & withdraw. Practices can reconfirm fees that have not changed, update amounts, or withdraw a published line. Review is suggested about every 90 days for practice-verified tips.

How services are categorised

Comparison uses a shared treatment catalogue (consultation, vaccination, emergency, neutering, prescription, microchip, and selected procedures). Species-specific lines stay visible when published. Procedures and nurse/follow-up consultations are not mixed into the routine consultation comparison headline. Synonym duplicates (for example "Consultation" vs "Standard consultation") collapse to one comparable tip per slot.

Freshness and missing information

• Freshness text labels: Current (≤30 days), Older (31–180 days), Stale (>180 days). Labels always include text — not colour alone.
• Stale amounts may still appear for orientation where retained, but they are excluded from current averages, vs-average claims, and structured data offers.
• Practice verified fees prefer a confirmation date. If confirmation is missing we say Confirmation date unavailable rather than calling a publish-only date "confirmed".
• Incomplete VAT or inclusion details are omitted or marked unavailable — never fabricated.

How search results and sorting work

• Postcode searches default to distance so nearby practices stay discoverable even when pricing coverage is incomplete.
• Where you choose a price sort, lower listed fees appear first for that treatment — provenance is not a ranking boost and does not sell placement.
• "Best value" balances lower price with practical distance; it is not a clinical quality score.
• Local averages and vs-average claims require a minimum sample of current comparable fees (typically three or more). Below that threshold we show Not available rather than a thin statistic.

What we can and cannot establish

• Listed fees help pet owners plan and compare standard list prices — they are not binding quotes.
• Final treatment costs can vary with an animal's individual needs, diagnostics, medication, and out-of-hours care. Ask the practice for a written estimate before non-routine treatment.
• Apparently similar services may not be like-for-like (different inclusions, species, package contents, or clinical pathways).
• A lower price does not mean inferior care; a higher price does not mean superior care. We do not rate clinical quality.

Commercial transparency

• There are no paid rankings or pay-to-place outcomes in comparison results.
• Practice verified is a provenance label — not a quality endorsement or ranking boost. See For practices.
• Monetisation features (if introduced later) must not secretly influence price accuracy or sort order. Paid placement, if any, will be disclosed separately from organic comparison.
• Directory metrics: Practices indexed is the full public directory; Practices with pricing counts practices with usable attested amounts.

Why are some prices missing?

We're building VPC around pricing supplied or confirmed by veterinary practices and reviewed submissions from pet owners. That means some practices won't have a price yet. We'd rather show Not available than give you a price that may be out of date or difficult to verify. As more practices publish and maintain their prices, local comparisons become more useful. See how we collect prices.

Corrections and complaints

Practices should update fees in the portal. Pet owners can submit a moderated correction or email us. Clinical disputes belong with the practice and, where appropriate, the RCVS — we are not a regulator.