Our Pick Of The Best Cheap UK Pet Insurance

Our pick of the best cheap pet insurance policies below, may help. To reach our final ranking, we used our online comparison tool to run quotes (April 2024) for accident-only policies.

We compared policies based on factors such as price, the total annual vet cover limit, cover limit per accident, and the excess, which is the set portion of each successful claim that a policyholder must pay.

Refer to our methodology section for more information on how we scored the policies.

Using our comparison service, we analysed pet insurance providers based on their least expensive accident-only policies for cats and dogs. Accident-only policies typically being the cheapest type of pet insurance (more details below).

Our research is based on a young Golden Retriever and a British Shorthair cat (born January 2023) that has been spayed or neutered, chipped, with up-to-date vaccines and which has not been the subject of any complaints or legal action. Any pet that falls outside the latter criteria may be categorised as ‘high risk’ which would require a policy with a higher level of cover and/or at a higher cost.

We searched for the minimum £1,000 annual cover, and assessed each pet insurance provider on the following criteria:

• monthly premium: the amount you pay each month for the policy
• cover limits: applicable for each accident and for maximum pay-out in vets’ fees, per year
• vet excess: the amount payable each time you claim for veterinary costs, and whether this increases as your pet gets older.

We also considered the co-payment is usually levied as a percentage of the claim amount, once the excess has been paid, and often applies as a pet grows older and more susceptible to illness.

We overlaid this with editorial judgment to award the providers with Forbes Advisor star ratings.

Pet owners are not legally required to take out cover for their animals, but it can be a vital financial safety net for those who are unsure how they would cover upfront vet fees.

Pet owners spent in excess of £5 billion in vet bills in 2022, according to data company Statista. This is an increase of over 50% from just under £2.1 billion a decade ago.

There are four main types of cover:

Accident only: Covers accidental injury up to a fixed amount. Certain policies may only accept claims for a condition up to 12 months after the first claim for the condition was made. Some policies also offer cover for illness-related treatment. Accident-only policies have the lowest premiums because of the limited cover provided.

Time Limited: Pays out for a condition, related to injury or illness, up to 12 months after the first claim for the condition is made. It also provides a set amount of cover per condition. Once the 12 months are up, or the money runs out for a condition – whichever occurs first – policyholders will have to fund any further treatment for the condition themselves.

Maximum benefit: Also known as ‘money limited’ or ‘condition capped’, policyholders can claim up to a set amount per condition, and conditions can relate to injury or illness. There are no time constraints on the use of cover, but when the money for a condition runs out, policyholders will have to fund any further treatment for said condition themselves. This type of policy is not designed for long-lasting conditions.

Lifetime: Offers a set amount of vet cover for accidents and illnesses for the year and sets a limit on how much cover a policyholder can claim per medical condition. The annual limit and per condition limit on cover are reinstated annually, if the policyholder chooses to renew the policy. This means cover can last the duration of an animal’s life, making this policy the most comprehensive. While it often costs more than other types of pet insurance policy, it can work out more cost-effective as pet owners have to fund anything a less comprehensive policy doesn’t.

Pet insurers take a number of factors into account when calculating the cost of a pet insurance policy. This not only includes the type of cover a pet owner requires, but also the following:

• Age: animals tend to become more susceptible to illness, and in turn more likely to need treatment, as they get older. Pet insurers tend to raise their premiums for older pets on account of this. They may also, or alternatively, charge more in excess or require an additional payment after excess on claims, in order to keep the policy premium as low as possible. This additional payment is known as a co-payment.
• Pre-existing conditions: these are any medical conditions the pet had before taking out the policy. Pet insurers view owners with animals that already have conditions as more likely to claim for vet costs, than owners of animals with a clean bill of health. As a result, many insurers often will not cover pre-existing conditions, or bump up the cost of cover accordingly.
• Breed: animals can be susceptible to certain conditions specific to their breed, and pedigrees are often more susceptible to hereditary conditions than cross-breeds and mongrels. Specific breeds, and pedigrees in particular, can therefore cost more to insure.
• Size: larger dogs, for example, can be more expensive to insure than smaller ones, as they often need higher doses of medicine, which results in more costly treatment.
• Location: insurers will consider vet costs in a pet owner’s area when calculating the policy premium, as they can differ between regions.

While the cost of a pet insurance policy will depend on factors specific to an animal, the table below gives an idea of how monthly premiums can differ between different types of policy.

Prices are based on a one-year-old Golden Retriever and a British Shorthair cat that are chipped, neutered/spayed with up-to-date vaccines, and which have not been the subject of complaints or legal action within the last five years.

Paying for insurance may be a worry for some pet owners.

However, there are ways to keep costs down. As well as shopping around for a cheap policy, they can consider:

• insuring a pet when it is young: insurers typically won’t cover pre-existing conditions or charge more to do so, making it vital that pet owners take out cover before their animal suffers any medical issues. Insurers will typically cover a pet from eight-weeks-old
• choosing a pet carefully: when deciding the new addition to the family, it may help to consider the factors that influence insurance costs such as age, breed and size
• getting a pet microchipped: insurers consider animals that are microchipped as more likely to be found if lost or stolen, which lowers the risk of their needing to pay out in such a scenario
• keeping vaccinations up-to-date: pet insurers will often charge more for cover if a pet’s vaccinations are not up-to-date, as they will view them as more susceptible to illness, raising the risk of their owners claiming for treatment.

Note that pets that have shown violent behaviour in the past can also cost more to cover.

*National survey of 2,000 people, conducted by Opinium on behalf of Forbes Advisor between 10-13 January 2023