2014 SPVS Salaries Survey Reveals Very Few Fat Cats In Veterinary Profession
9 years ago
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13th November, 2014 15h58
Fat cats of the feline variety may be on the rise but the same cannot be said of the vets who treat them. The 2014 SPVS Salaries Survey is published today and reveals that, while most vets have experienced very little salary increase on last year, those in the 10 years qualified category have actually lost out with a median 9.2% drop in salary.
Total salary packages varied from £31,150 for newly qualified vets (up 0.5% on last year) to £69,021 for vets qualified for more than 20 years, who were one of the few winners with a double digit increase of 11.9%. This is in marked contrast to the majority of ‘years qualified’ categories that experienced negative growth. The variation in salary increases was less dramatic in terms of hourly rates, which ranged from £16.30 for new graduates to £34.61 for the most experienced vets.
The majority of the 776 vets who responded worked in small animal practice, which showed a 0.4% increase in median salary to £41,148. Salaries in equine practice rose by a modest 0.5% to a median of £43,000 while mixed practice showed an increase of 5% to £41,176 and large animal practice increased by 7.2% to £44,142. By contrast, vets employed in industry earned a median £59,106 but this was down on last year’s figure of £69,596. Salaries among academic and research vets also decreased by 15.1%.
Across the regions salaries varied considerably with the median figure for all respondents ranging from £37,030 for Scotland and Northern Ireland to £54,025 in Greater London.
Not only are most vets experiencing only marginal salary growth at best or a drop in salary at worst, the profession continues to be debt-laden with 76% of those who had a loan at graduation still carrying student loans of between a few thousand pounds to a handful of respondents who had debts of over £100,000.
There was a glimmer of good news in that, although the gender pay gap still exists in the veterinary profession, it has closed up somewhat from the 15% difference last year to 10.8% this year. However this is still slightly higher than the gap reported for all professions in the UK so there remains a great deal of work to be done.
The SPVS Salaries Survey is the largest of its kind and drew responses from 1,878 vets, nurses, practice managers and receptionists. It has grown year-on-year and this year 14% more vets took part in the survey, indicating what an invaluable tool it is.
Peter Brown, SPVS Treasurer and author of the report comments: “The SPVS Salaries Survey is intended as a benchmark to give some indication of what is being paid as the ‘going rate’ rather than to advise on what employees should be paid. Having said that, we would urge all veterinary practices to continue working to ensure that equal rates of pay are given for positions of equal status. Although the gender gap has closed up, it is still too big.”
The annual SPVS Salaries Survey is free of charge to SPVS members and costs £150 for non-members. If you’re not a member, join now by calling 01926 410454 or visiting
www.spvs.org.uk.
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