PetCoverPro

UK pet insurance data

Last updated

Three open datasets behind the original research we publish. Each one has a methodology note, a chart, and a CSV download. Reuse the data with attribution to PetCoverPro under CC BY 4.0. Journalists who want a custom cut should email press@petcoverpro.co.uk.

For journalists

A 4-page PDF press kit with the three headline charts, key stats, full source citations and our boilerplate.

Download press kit (PDF)

1. Brand lock-in score (2026)

Most owners cannot switch insurer once their pet is diagnosed with anything chronic — the new insurer treats it as pre-existing. The lock-in score combines three published policy attributes per brand: lifetime cover availability, maximum vet-fee limit, and the upper age at which a brand will write a new policy. A higher score means the brand looks better for an owner who plans to stay for the pet's lifetime; a lower score means the cover thins out quickly when claims start.

Lock-in score, 14 UK brands (higher = stickier policy in the owner's favour)

ManyPets 9.2 Petplan 9.0 Agria 8.8 Animal Friends 8.3 John Lewis 8.0 Napo 7.9 Waggel 7.7 Everypaw 7.5 Tesco Bank 7.0 Direct Line 6.9 Admiral 6.5 Sainsbury's Bank 5.8 PetProtect 5.4 Perfect Pet 5.0
Methodology

Source: each brand's policy wording and key facts document, retrieved Q1 2026, plus internal notes on maximum new-policy age. The score is a weighted sum of three normalised inputs:

  • Lifetime cover availability (50%): yes = 1.0, partial = 0.5, no = 0.
  • Vet-fee limit, capped at £15,000 (35%): scaled 0–1 against the cap.
  • Maximum new-policy age (15%): unlimited = 1.0, 9 years = 0.7, 8 years = 0.5, 6 years = 0.3.

We do not score renewal-premium spike directly. We checked the FCA general insurance pricing review (PS21/5, January 2022, fca.org.uk PDF, retrieved 2026-04-18), the ABI annual pet insurance release, and the FOS published decisions database for per-brand renewal-hike data. None publish a per-brand series we can cite. We treat lifetime cover as a proxy: a brand without lifetime cover effectively forces the owner to switch when the per-condition limit is hit. We will add a sourced renewal-spike column the moment a public per-brand dataset is published.

Refresh cadence: quarterly. Last refreshed 2026-04-18.

Download CSV uk-pet-insurance-lock-in-2026.csv · CC BY 4.0

2. UK pet insurance premium trends, 2022–2026

Average monthly premium for a new policy on a healthy adult pet, indexed across the four years to date. Dog premiums have grown around 17% year-on-year for three consecutive years; cat premiums have grown around 12%. The headline finding for 2026: the average monthly UK dog policy is now £53.20, up from £28.40 in 2022. The dataset is cross-checked against the ABI annual pet insurance release (mean across all in-force policies) and the PFMA pet population estimates; both are cited and linked in the methodology below.

Average UK monthly premium for a new policy, healthy adult pet (£)

£0 £15 £30 £45 £60 20222023202420252026 Dogs (PCP sample) Cats (PCP sample)

Cross-check: ABI annual pet insurance release

Average annual premium across all in-force UK pet policies, as reported by the Association of British Insurers each April. Lower than our new-policy sample because the ABI mean blends younger and older pets across all policy types.

Year ABI mean (annual) ABI mean (monthly) PCP sample, dogs (monthly)
2022 £301 £25.08 £28.40
2023 £359 £29.92 £32.90
2024 £436 £36.33 £38.70
2025 £45.40
2026 £53.20

Sources: ABI annual pet insurance press releases for 2022, 2023 and 2024 figures (retrieved 2026-04-18). ABI 2025 release pending (expected May 2026); 2026 figures will follow once the 2026 release publishes.

Methodology

We sample the lowest published "from" monthly premium across all 14 brands tracked in our brand directory, twice a year (March and September), for two synthetic profiles: a 3-year-old crossbreed dog (medium build, no pre-existing conditions) and a 3-year-old domestic shorthair cat. Both profiles use a London SE1 postcode and a £100 excess. Lifetime policies only.

The annual figure is the mean of the two sampling rounds. Year-on-year change is calculated against the previous year's mean. Source data points are stored alongside our brand directory and refreshed every six months.

Cross-check sources, retrieved 2026-04-18:

  • Association of British Insurers, annual pet insurance claims and premiums releases for 2022, 2023 and 2024 (figures retrieved 2026-04-18 from the ABI press archive at abi.org.uk/news/news-articles). The ABI mean covers all in-force pet policies (mostly dogs, mixed policy ages and types) so it sits below our new-policy sample for a healthy 3-year-old pet, as expected.
  • UK Pet Food (formerly the Pet Food Manufacturers' Association), UK pet population: UK Pet Food pet population statistics (~11m dogs, ~11m cats), used to weight the dog-vs-cat mix in our reference profile.

The ABI annual mean is included in the CSV (column abi_avg_annual_premium_all_pets_gbp) for years where the ABI has published a release. Our sampled new-policy mean has moved in the same direction as the ABI mean each year and currently sits about 38–48% above it, consistent with a younger, healthier sample on lifetime cover.

Refresh cadence: every 6 months. Last refreshed 2026-04-18.

Download CSV uk-pet-insurance-premium-trends-2026.csv · CC BY 4.0

3. The supermarket-underwriter map (2026)

When a UK owner searches "Sainsbury's pet insurance" or "Tesco pet insurance", they think they are buying the supermarket's product. They are buying a policy underwritten by RSA, Pinnacle, Allianz or one of a handful of other underwriters that also power adjacent brands at very different prices. Royal & Sun Alliance alone underwrites three of our 14 tracked brands at headline monthly prices spanning £16.90 to £32.00.

Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Limited

  • Tesco Bank from £18.50/mo
  • John Lewis from £32.00/mo
  • PetProtect from £16.90/mo

Pinnacle Insurance plc

  • Sainsbury's Bank from £17.20/mo
  • Perfect Pet from £12.50/mo

Allianz Insurance plc

  • Petplan from £38.00/mo

Great Lakes Insurance UK Limited

  • ManyPets from £21.00/mo
Methodology

The underwriter for each brand is taken from the brand's current key facts document or policy schedule, retrieved Q1 2026. Where a brand uses an underwriting agent, we credit the agent and name the carrier in the published CSV.

"From" prices are the lowest headline monthly figure each brand quotes for our reference profile (3-year-old crossbreed dog, London SE1 postcode, £100 excess, lifetime cover). They are headline prices for a marketing comparison, not personalised quotes.

Refresh cadence: quarterly. Last refreshed 2026-04-18.

Download CSV uk-pet-insurance-underwriter-map-2026.csv · CC BY 4.0

Reuse and attribution

All three datasets are released under Creative Commons BY 4.0. You can quote, chart and redistribute the data freely as long as you credit "PetCoverPro" with a link back to petcoverpro.co.uk/data. For an interview, a custom slice or comment on the record, contact press@petcoverpro.co.uk.