Locums’ pandemic pay rates rocket in salary survey

Locum vets have been the big winners when it comes to pandemic pay rises, with a new salary survey showing their income rates skyrocketed last year.

While the latest SPVS Salary Survey shows the median annual pay rise for full-time vets was £3,000 in 2021 – a 7% salary increase on the previous year – locum vets saw their rates rise by a staggering 36% to £41 per hour during the same period.

And it was the same story for vet nurses, with full-time salaries increasing by a relatively meagre 7.8% when compared to the 30% jump in daily rate and 14% rise in hourly rate enjoyed by their locum counterparts.

With the sector’s recruitment crisis exacerbated by the pandemic and the lingering impacts of Brexit – which saw the number of EU vets registering with the RCVS fall by 68% between 2019-21 – significant salary increases had been expected.

Growing disparity

However, it had also been expected that the survey would show that the profession was making progress when it came to closing the gender pay gap, but this was not the case.

Results in fact show a growing disparity between the salaries paid to men and women, with men in the veterinary profession now earning roughly 21% more than women – up from 15% in 2020.

This is despite the fact that women now significantly outnumber men across the sector, with 81.8% of vet respondents to the latest SPVS survey being female.

SPVS committee member Vicki Farbon helped analyse the survey findings and she believes this growing pay gap may have more to do with seniority than it does gender.

She said: “The disparity in part can be explained by career progression – especially for vets greater than 15 years qualified. Within this category, more male vets are in more senior positions, commanding a higher salary, so the difference may be due to seniority, not necessarily gender.

“I don’t think there is necessarily a gender pay gap for like-for-like work. The reason males earned more overall was because there was a higher percentage in positions of leadership roles and directorships, as well as referral work.

“There appears to be very similar amounts of males and females doing postgraduate qualifications, but this is not then converting to positions of leadership.”

The survey showed more than twice as many males than females are in these positions and despite females doing the extra training, this was not always translating into career progression.

Dr Farbon added: “More research is needed to understand why this is the case. But it is important to promote responsible leadership throughout the profession and give everyone – especially women – the confidence and tools to be able to do this.”

Record respondents

A record number of respondents took part in the survey, with 1,605 responses, with the majority of those coming from veterinary surgeons (59%) and veterinary nurses (31%).

The median salary for all vets for 2021 was £48,325 and the median package for vet nurses was £24,227, rising to £31,013 for head nurses.

For locum vets, results showed that the daily rate had risen by more than 16% since 2020 to £350 a day, with the hourly rate increasing 36%. In a similar fashion, locum nurse daily rates had risen by more than 30% since 2020 to £144 and their hourly rate has increased by 14% to £20.

Commenting on the sharp rises in locum pay, however, Dr Farbon explained that it wasn’t all good news for veterinary professionals without permanent contracts.

She said: “I don’t think people are leaving full-time jobs to become locums, but I think it is harder for locums to consider a full-time position because of the disparity in pay.

“However, the survey also showed locums felt they had the least prospects and support compared to other vets – it depends how important this is to an individual compared to salary as to where they will be long term.”

New graduates

Another noticeable takeout from the survey concerned the new graduate salary package. This package, at £32,700 in 2021, is £800 less than in 2020 (£33,500); however, the 2021 hourly rate has increased to £15.66 from £15.04 in 2020.

This may suggest that new graduates may be prioritising their work-life balance, with time off being more important than an overall salary.