What does a vet earn in the UK? 

Money in the veterinary world is always a contentious issue. The Competition and Marketing Authority (CMA) has just reported on their investigation into whether the fees charged by vets are fair and a quick glance at social media pages readily yields complaints about how much veterinary practices charge for drugs and services. But how much do vets really earn? You may be surprised… 

What does it take to be a vet? 

Becoming a vet is no easy feat. The veterinary degree course is 5 or even 6 years long and also requires students to carry out ‘work experience’ during their holidays and alongside studying for exams. This means they are highly unlikely to be able to get a part-time job like many other university students, and with tuition fees and living costs being as high as they are now, they will typically come out with tens of thousands of pounds of debt.  

Not only that, but prior to even starting at university, students will need to have shown their commitment to the profession by carrying out work experience placements during the school holidays, starting from as young as 14 years of age. They have to achieve exceptionally high GCSE and A-level grades, have a wide range of experience in different fields of animal care, and show themselves to be a capable, well rounded person in order to be accepted onto the veterinary degree course, for which competition for places is high.  

During the course, students will have around 18-35 hours of teaching per week, compared to 10-12 hours as an average across other courses. They have to learn the anatomy, physiology and diseases of a large number of species, the practical skills required to be a general practice vet and also enough knowledge to be a surgeon, pharmacist, anaesthetist, dentist, radiographer, internal medic, dermatologist, cardiologist, oncologist, ophthalmologist and more, all in one career.  

Working as a vet 

Being a vet is a hugely rewarding career and the majority of vets love their job and see it more as a vocation. But it’s not an easy choice. Vets will typically work long hours, sometimes covering their own out-of-hours service including nights, weekends and bank holidays. They will see, on average, 15-30 patients per day during consultations. These could be simple appointments like vaccinations, or more complex cases, potentially requiring extensive investigations or surgical intervention. Between all these, they will also be required to prescribe medications, make phone calls and write up comprehensive notes. On average, a veterinary appointment will last 10-15 minutes. In some cases, they may be even shorter than this. During this time, the vet must take a clinical history from the owner, examine the patient, come up with a diagnostic plan, provide treatment if required, bill up the consultation and write their notes.  

By the nature of the profession, vets are caring people, but this can sometimes count against them when dealing with the emotional toll of the job. Euthanasia is a common part of a vet’s day, and although it will always be carried out for the right reasons and with the pet’s welfare at the forefront, it can still be a difficult time, especially if it is a young animal or a long-term patient of the vet.  

It’s not just death that can be hard to deal with though. Many vets will tell you some of the worst parts of the job are those, thankfully rare, cases of abuse or neglect, or owners that either can’t, or won’t help their pet in their time of need.  

Abuse against veterinary staff is also scarily common, ranging from verbal abuse through to physical violence or threats. Sadly, many vets these days feel they must write thorough notes, not simply to aid the hand-over of cases, but in order to ‘cover their back’ in case of complaints. Obviously, owners have the right to make a complaint, either to the practice directly or to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (the RCVS) and if the vet has done something to compromise animal welfare then it’s important to report it. Unfortunately, a lot of these complaints turn out to be unsubstantiated or will stem from a simple misunderstanding, yet can cause severe worry and stress to the vet involved. And once these complaints get onto social media, a dangerous bullying culture can start.  

Shockingly, vets have the highest suicide rate of any profession in the UK and compared to the general public, they are three to four times more likely to die by suicide. The hashtag #NOMV (Not One More Vet), which was started in 2014 and has now become well known in the veterinary field, aims to raise awareness of suicide amongst vets and provide action to combat it.  

Money in the veterinary business 

The majority of veterinary practices in the UK are a business, and businesses need to make money to survive. We’ve all heard ‘if you loved animals, you’d do it for free’ but it’s simply not possible to work to this – veterinary practices have overheads, staffing costs and drug costs to factor in. The money most certainly does not go into the vets’ pockets. Medication is expensive to buy as vets have to go through a wholesaler that sometimes sells the drugs to the practices at a higher cost than owners can get them online at a veterinary pharmacy. Keeping a veterinary practice running is also costly, with heating, lighting and the purchase and running costs of expensive veterinary equipment quickly adding up – for example, the service contract on a high-end CT machine could cost a practice as much as £100,000 per year.  

Salaries in the veterinary field 

So what does a general practice full time vet earn in the UK today? 2025 data suggests that the median annual salary package (including benefits such as membership of the RCVS which is a compulsory fee) is about £58k. On paper this does look like a very healthy salary and certainly far above the median UK wage of £37,856. But let’s have a look in more detail… 

Veterinary salaries in the UK vary greatly and are dependent on a number of factors. Newly graduated vets will obviously earn less than more experienced vets. The average annual salary for a new graduate is £35-37k whilst for vets that have been practising for over 10 years, it is £55-72k. 

There are plenty of opportunities for vets to specialise in different fields and their salary will reflect this. Vets with extra qualifications and certificates can earn more than a ‘standard’ GP vet.  

Location also plays a big part in determining a vets’ salary. London and the South East, as for most professions, will provide higher salaries, whilst vets working in the more remote areas such as the Scottish Highlands, will earn less.  

Vets can also work as locums, which will typically earn a much higher daily rate than a salaried vet – around £400-500 per day, but they won’t have the security of sick pay or paid holidays.  

Vets are very often compared to doctors in both their training and day-to-day work, but the salaries often don’t compare quite as well. Full time GP doctors in the NHS get paid a minimum of £76,038 per year, up to a maximum of £114,743 (for a nominally 37.5 hour week – although of course for many, like vets, it’s a much longer working day in practice than it is on paper!). For NHS consultants, the pay will range from £109,725 to £145,478 per year.   

• Average salaries for other professions can also to help put things in perspective: 
• Builder – £32,808 
• School teacher – £39,356 
• Mechanical engineer – £41,820 
• Solicitor – £50,537 
• Pharmacist – £54,274 
• Actuary – £63,140 
• Dentist – £84,482 

UK vs the rest of the world 

As you can see from the above figures, the average annual salary for vets in the UK is a pretty comfortable figure when compared to the average wage across all professions. But how does it compare in other countries? Below are the average salaries for vets in different countries with the average country salary in brackets, all converted to the equivalent in GBP. 

• USA     New graduates £73-88,000; experienced vets £118-184,000 [£60,000] 
• Canada     New graduates £48-53,000; experienced vets £80-106,000 [£36,000] 
• Ireland     New graduates £35-43,000; experienced vets £56-78,000 [£44,000] 
• Australia     New graduates £42-44,000; experienced vets £68-88,000 [£51,000] 
• New Zealand    New graduates £35-38,000; experienced vets £62-79,000 [£30,000]  
• UAE                 New graduates £24-32,000; experienced vets £52-70,000 [£39,000] 
• Qatar      New graduates £40-48,000; experienced vets £73-91,000 [£40,000] 
• Germany      £72,000 [£45,000] 
• France      £72,000 [£35,000] 
• Romania      £13,000 [£18,500] 

Obviously there will be variations in taxes and benefits affecting these figures which means these aren’t necessarily a direct like-for-like comparison, but they do give an overall picture of where vets sit in the earnings rankings in different parts of the world.  

Overall, we can’t deny that the majority of vets working in the UK will earn a comfortable wage.  

However, the salary of a vet doesn’t necessarily correlate directly with the prices charged to clients and it’s important to highlight this to the general public. The rate at which vets’ salaries have increased in the past 12 months (2.2%) has also fallen behind both the rate of inflation (3.8%) and the average increase in other professions (3.5%).  

For a profession so heavily encumbered by emotional pressures, alongside long working hours and a technically challenging workload, albeit with a hefty dose of job satisfaction and an occasional sprinkling of puppies and kittens, is the pay fair reward? As we said before, vets see their profession as a vocation and go into it, at least in part, for the love of animals. But believe me when I say, no vet goes into the profession for the money.  

Further reading: 

How much do vets earn in the UK – The VetService  

Global Vet Salaries – The VetService  

SPVS 2025 Salary Survey 

SPVS Survey indicates out of hourse work resurgence – Vet Times