5 Oct 2021
The college’s council has voted to introduce more flexibility as part of its efforts to ease the veterinary workforce crisis in the UK.
Paul Imrie
Job TitleEnglish requirements for overseas-qualified vets are being amended to help boost the number of vets who could work in the UK.
RCVS council has voted to bring in greater flexibility around the English requirements for vets who want to join its register to practise in the UK.
Any non-UK-qualified vets wanting to sit the RCVS’ statutory examination for membership or applying for full registration to practise had to have English to Level 7 of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or Level B in the Occupational English Test (OET) across the listening, reading, writing and speaking components. The level reflected most other professional regulators in the UK.
Now, following recommendations by the college’s registration and education committees, the council has amended its requirement.
It will now be acceptable for vets to reach IELTS Level 6.5/OET Level C+ in any one of the four language components – provided the average score across all components remains at least Level 7/B.
Earlier this year, and following a request by Defra, the council agreed to temporarily allow vets on the temporary RCVS register to undertake certain OV functions with IELTS Level 5 (or OET Level D). Defra had been facing a shortage in vets in areas of meat hygiene control.
The council says the change in requirements for all vets will give it greater flexibility in light of current workforce shortages.
As previously reported by Vet Times, the college is also in negotiations with some vet schools in Europe over supplying graduates, is looking to entice vets who have left the register back temporarily to man the front line and is planning a workforce summit of key stakeholders in November.
