A brighter future in sight, suggests new vet salary survey

A new report has suggested the number of veterinary professionals undertaking overtime work has nearly halved during the past three years.

SPVS officials believe that, together with other findings from its latest salary survey, may indicate a brighter future for the sector.

But the newly published document has also warned of continuing “uncertainty” for the professions, amid new rules on the recruitment of overseas clinicians and knock-on effects from the trends it identifies.

‘Struggling’

In her introduction to the report, SPVS vice-chairperson Vicki Farbon said many practices were “struggling to balance the books”, despite fee increases, because of the impact of higher salaries and better work-life balances.

She wrote: “Salaries are still forming a much higher percentage of turnover than ever before. SPVS hopes this survey will provide some insight into providing a fair, appropriate salary to ultimately help run ethical, profitable businesses.”

The latest report is based on more than 2,300 responses submitted between January and March of this year.

Out-of-hours

Although the data indicated salaries are rising in most categories, the more striking trends relate to the proportion of professionals who are working out-of-hours.

Overall, 44% of vets and 39% of nurses said they worked overtime, compared to 51% in each category last year and 78% in 2021.

The number of hours being worked was also down, while the proportion of vets doing nights on call fell to 20% from 33% on weekdays and 19% from 32% at weekends.

Four-day weeks

In a statement accompanying the report, the group said that while data showing an average of 28 days’ holiday for vets and 29 for nurses appeared to show a fall from last year, that was likely to be connected to a shift towards four-day working weeks.

On pay, the report indicated median basic starting salaries for vets had risen by 6% over the past year to £34,000, while the median salary package was up by 8.3% to a little more than £57,000, with the highest increases in London and the south-east of England.

Hourly rates for vets rose by 11%, regardless of whether they were for full-time or part-time work, while median locum pay is said to have risen by 6% for daily rates and 12% for nights. Meanwhile daily rates for nurses jumped by 26%, though hourly rates only rose by 2%.

Potential impact

But the report also indicated the potential impact of the Government’s recently imposed migration reforms, as it showed the newly required £48,100 annual salary threshold for vets to be recruited from overseas is only exceeded a minimum of three years postgraduation.

Dr Farbon said the analysis of salary progression postgraduation was also critical to helping clinicians see how their careers can progress.

She wrote: “We need good role models in practice now that can motivate and encourage others to stay in the profession and lead by example.”

Gender gap descreases

The report further highlighted that a substantial gender pay gap remains, although it was down from 22% to 15% overall and from 17% to 8% on hourly pay.

The group suggested the disparity may be linked to the finding that more than twice the percentage of male respondents had completed postgraduate qualifications and were in positions of leadership than their female counterparts.

But their statement added: “Locum wages seemed to have levelled out more this year. The future is looking brighter.

“The gender pay gap appears to be reducing and the work-life balance improving for both vets and nurses if judged on overtime, on-call work and holidays.”