SPVS had over 2,300 responses for their 2024 Salary Survey from Jan 2024 to March 2024. Seventy-six percent of these were female and 19 percent male.
Seventy-one percent were vets and 23 percent nurses. A much higher number of locums responded this year (23 percent of respondents were vet locums and 15percent were nurse locums).
Main points to note:
- New graduate median basic starting salary has increased by 6 percent in the last year to £34,000
- For all vets working full time the median annual salary package has increased by 8.3 percent to £57,050 (this is £51,000 for the basic salary). The largest increases were in London (19.6 percent) and the South East of England (13 percent)
- The overall median hourly rate for vets working both full and part time has increased by 11 percent
- For full time nurses their overall salary package and hourly rate has increased by 7 percent
- For locum vets their median daily rate has increased by 6 percent to £450. Their hourly rate has stayed the same at £50. Their night working rate has increased however by 12 percent to £840
- For locum nurses their daily rate has increased by 26 percent to £250 but their hourly rate has only increased by 2 percent for those that charged per hour to £24
- Surprisingly only 52 percent of vets and 50 percent of nurses had contributions towards CPD (averaging £1,483 for vets and £560 for nurses) and only 45 percent of vets and 30 percent of nurses had subscriptions paid for
In all age groups the median salary package for males was greater than for females but the disparity is decreasing over time. The overall difference was 15 percent this year compared to 22 percent last year. The hourly rate difference has reduced to 8 percent this year from 17 percent last year. Similarly to last year this disparity maybe because a higher percentage of males are in a higher position of responsibility. When looking at factors that may affect income, more than double the percentage of males than females had done a post-graduate qualification to help with increased clinical responsibility and were in a position of leadership or management when compared with females.
Work/life balance?
Are we finally getting this right? This year 44 percent of vets and 39 percent of nurses answered yes to doing over time. This compared to 51 percent last year and 78 percent in 2021 for vets and 51 percent last year and 78 percent in 2021 for nurses. For both vets and nurses the average number of extra hours has also reduced.
Vets and nurses are also working less on call alongside their daytime hours and less weekend working. For example, only 20 percent of vets are doing weeknights on call (this was 33 percent last year) and only 19 percent are doing weekend nights on call (this was 32 percent last year).
On the surface the number of days holidays appears to have reduced from 30 to 28 for vets and from 31 to 29 for nurses. However, this is likely due to more vets and nurses working a four day week so only needing four days holiday to take a week off. If it looked at in this way they actually have increased their holidays to seven weeks from six weeks. This is the most likely explanation for these results.
Conclusion
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 over time, on call work and holidays.
