The Privy Council has approved a 7% rise to the current annual renewal fees charged by the RCVS.
The approved fee rise will apply to the 2020-21 annual renewal fee for veterinary surgeons, including overseas-practising and non-practising veterinary surgeons and temporary registrants. These are due to be paid by 31 March 2020.
The rise will result in an increase of £24 for veterinarians practising in the UK, while there will be a £12 increase for overseas-practising members and a £4 increase for non-practising members.
RCVS chief executive, Lizzie Lockett, said: “While we appreciate asking people for more money is never going to be popular, I would like to reassure the profession that the fee rise is both a necessary piece of financial future-proofing, and will also help fund current projects and future initiatives stemming from our new strategic plan.
“Many of our existing projects, such as the RCVS Leadership programme, ViVet innovation project, the fellowship and Mind Matters mental health initiative, have an increasing workload often due to popular demand, which requires additional resources, including staffing, to meet those needs.”
She added: “There is also increasing demand on some of our core regulatory functions, such as our concerns investigation and disciplinary processes, including the Veterinary Client Mediation Service, and our education department.
“In terms of future-proofing, we also need to make sure we have sufficient financial security for a potential decrease in the number of veterinary surgeons currently registered with us, as well as the number of veterinary surgeons joining the register on an annual basis, that may arise when the UK fully leaves the EU at the end of the transition period in December 2020.”
