10/06/2026
Let's talk about what it actually costs to keep a veterinary practice running in 2026. And then let's talk about who's paying for it. And then let's talk about what the people making these rules are taking home while we have this conversation.
Because vet bills don't go up because vets are greedy. They go up because running any small healthcare business in this country right now is absolutely brutal.
Since April 2025, employer National Insurance jumped from 13.8% to 15% - AND the threshold at which you start paying it dropped from £9,100 down to £5,000. So a part-time employee earning £8,000 a year, the kind of role that keeps a reception desk running, now costs the employer NI contributions where previously there were none. Every receptionist. Every part-time nurse. Every kennel hand. This change disproportionately hits businesses built on part-time and lower-paid workers. Veterinary practices are exactly that kind of business.
Stack on top of that: energy costs still punishing small premises. Business rates. Clinical equipment. Consumables. Drugs. Staff who, rightly, deserve a living wage. Average consultation fees have risen 8% year on year since 2022. And before anyone says, profit, independent practice margins rarely exceed 10%. That is not a cash cow. That is a business barely keeping the lights on.
Now, let's look at who is actually keeping those practices running.
🐾 Vet receptionist - around £20,000 a year. £10.85 an hour (minimum wage for 18 year olds). These are the people absorbing the distress calls, the billing conversations, the angry clients, the heartbroken ones. £10.85 an hour. (Receptionists, I'll never stop shouting about how vital you are)
🐾 VCA (Veterinary Care Assistant) - hands-on with animals all day, supporting clinical staff, often on or just above minimum wage
🐾 RVN (Registered Veterinary Nurse) - national average around £30,665. A degree-level clinical role. Managing anaesthesia. Running treatment plans. Taking on cases a GP would refer to a specialist. In rural or smaller independent practices, closer to £22,000–£25,000. Though thankfully rising and, their are some excellent independent practices really raising this. I see you.
🐾 Experienced vet - around £58,000, compared to a GP starting at £73,000 and going well above £100,000. Same level of clinical training. Same life or death calls. (We do very different jobs but it's the closest reference point)
And on top of every single one of those wages, the practice still has to charge you 20% VAT. Because animal healthcare is classified as a standard-rated service. Not essential. Not protected. Taxed like a hotel room.
Meanwhile, in the UK right now, these are VAT-free or zero-rated:
✅ GP appointments
✅ Hospital treatment
✅ Prescription medicine
✅ Dental care
✅ Children's clothes
✅ Books
✅ Gambling (Yes, really)
✅ MPs' dining rooms - taxpayer subsidised, where a pint was £3.45 ( thanks Hannah Spencer for speaking up ) and a double espresso £1.16 while the rest of London pays commercial prices on the other side of the gates.
Your dog's emergency surgery at midnight? 20%. Full whack.
Now let's talk about the people who could actually change this.
As of April 2026, the basic MP salary is £98,599. Before expenses. On top of that, £268.5 million was budgeted for MPs' staffing, offices, accommodation and travel in 2025/26 alone. It appears only SOME of them are truly working for the people.
And IPSA has already confirmed the target is to get MPs to around £110,000 by the end of this Parliament, with planned increases every year until then.
So the people eating subsidised lunches in Westminster, with their rent covered, their travel covered, their office costs covered, those are the people who decided that treating your sick cat is a luxury transaction subject to full VAT.
A vet receptionist earns less in a year than an MP claims back in expenses.
Let that sit for a second.
Switzerland has already lowered VAT on veterinary care 8.1% They decided animal welfare was essential. We haven't got there.
And dropping it wouldn't just help pet owners. It would:
Directly cut bills without touching clinical standards
Give independent practices real breathing room on margins that are already thin.
Bring more animals in early, before a £200 problem becomes a £2,000 emergency.
Ease the pressure on rescues absorbing surrendered animals because owners can't afford the bills.
Take a genuine financial burden off elderly, isolated and disabled people whose animals are their lifeline.
I am proud to work in this profession. The people around me are not getting rich. They are working in a system where every cost is rising, every tax is hitting harder, and every client is feeling it at the desk.
The people with the power to fix it are on nearly £100k with their lunch subsidised.
Make that make sense. 👇
I'm currently hand-rearing puppies, hence the lack of posting. A litter born via life-saving surgery, where the "greeder" paid just over the cost of a pint in parliament. The vet practice took the financial hit to save their lives. Now I take the financial hit to raise them.....again.
