Pet Insurance Co-Payment Explained: What It Is and When It Starts

A co-payment is the part of every vet bill you pay yourself, even after the excess. It is usually 20%. Most insurers add one when your dog reaches a set age, usually between 6 and 10, and one starts at 4. On a dog with a long-term condition it can add hundreds of pounds a year to what you pay.

Insurers do not make this easy. They call it different things, put it on a different page of the policy, and set the age it starts in different ways. This guide explains it in plain English, and every insurer detail comes from the insurers' own websites and policy documents, checked in October 2026.

Excess and co-payment: the difference

There are two ways an insurer makes you pay part of a claim.

• The excess is a fixed amount, such as £99. You pay it once per claim, once per condition, or once a year, depending on the policy.
• The co-payment is a percentage of the bill, usually 20%. Because it is a percentage, it grows as the bill grows.

Once a co-payment starts, you normally pay both. Insurers also use other names for it: co-insurance, percentage excess and variable excess all mean the same thing.

How a co-payment changes a claim

Most insurers take the fixed excess first, then the co-payment from what is left. ManyPets' policy handbook works it this way. On a £1,500 vet bill with a £99 excess:

	You pay	The insurer pays
Excess only	£99	£1,401
Excess plus 20% co-payment	£379.20	£1,120.80

The 20% is taken from the £1,401 left after the excess, so it adds £280.20 to your share of this one bill.

Over a dog's life the numbers add up. Say your dog develops arthritis at 8 and the treatment costs £1,200 a year. With a £99 excess and a 20% co-payment, you pay £319.20 of each year's bill instead of £99. Over six years, from 8 to 13, that is £1,321.20 extra out of your pocket, on top of the premiums.

Your policy wording says exactly how your insurer works it out. Run your own figures through our pet insurance calculator, which takes an excess, a co-payment and a limit and plays a real vet bill through them year by year.

When each insurer starts charging one

This is the detail most people miss when they buy. The age is in the policy documents, not usually on the front of the quote.

Insurer	Co-payment	When it starts
Lifetime Pet Cover	15% from 4, 25% from 7, 30% from 12	Age 4, the earliest we have found
Purely Pets	20%, cannot be removed	Age 6, the earliest of the ten insurers we rank
ManyPets	20%	The first renewal after your dog's 7th birthday
Animal Friends	20% or 35%, cannot be removed	The first renewal after your dog's 8th birthday
Perfect Pet	15%	Age 8
Everypaw	25%	The renewal after your dog's 8th birthday, or 5th for 24 mainly large and giant breeds
Petplan Covered For Life	20%	The renewal after your dog's 10th birthday, or 7th for some breeds
Post Office Lifetime	A percentage excess	Compulsory from an age shown on your certificate, with at least a year's notice
Pets at Home	20%	An age set by breed, shown during your quote and on your schedule
Agria	A percentage excess on some policies	Not tied to age. Check your schedule
Waggel	Optional 20%	Only if you choose it, at any age
Petgevity Lifetime Plus	Optional 0% to 30%	Only if you choose it, at any age
Direct Line	Not stated for its Essential policy	Check your schedule

Animal Friends' website gives 20%, but its current product summary says the co-payment can be 20% or 35%, so check the figure on your schedule. Petgevity's standard Lifetime policy, as opposed to Lifetime Plus, does have a compulsory 20% co-payment from age 8.

Compulsory and voluntary co-payments

A compulsory co-payment is one the insurer adds because of your dog's age. You cannot opt out, and with most insurers it stays for good. It tends to arrive just as your dog starts claiming more often, which is the point: older dogs cost insurers more.

A voluntary co-payment is one you choose to bring the premium down. Waggel and Petgevity's Lifetime Plus both offer one at any age, and Waggel lets you drop it again at renewal. For a young, healthy dog that rarely claims, the saving on the premium can be worth more than the co-payments you end up paying. For a dog with an ongoing condition, it usually is not.

How to find it in your documents

You do not need to read the whole policy to find the co-payment. Look in three places:

1. Your quote or schedule. This should list the fixed excess and any percentage excess or co-payment for your policy.
2. The product summary, sometimes called the IPID. It is a short document of two or three pages, and it usually says if a co-payment applies and from what age.
3. The policy booklet, under a heading such as "excess", "co-payment" or "contribution". This is where the detail lives, including whether it can ever be removed.

If you are comparing quotes for a dog that is 5 or older, check the co-payment age before you compare prices. A policy that is £5 a month cheaper can cost you far more once the co-payment starts.

Questions to ask before you buy

• Is there a co-payment now, and will one be added later?
• At what age does it start, and what percentage is it?
• Is it charged on top of the excess, and in which order?
• Can it ever be removed?
• If I choose a voluntary co-payment, how much does it take off the premium?

For the full picture on each insurer, including the limits and the small print, see our guide to the best pet insurance in the UK, or read how we rank pet insurance.

Details checked against the insurers' websites and policy documents in October 2026. Insurers change their policies often, so always read your own policy documents before you buy.