The Datum Report

Occupation 3240 · Associate professional occupations

Veterinary nurses

Half of full-time veterinary nurses in the UK earn more than £28,893 a year, and half earn less.

Veterinary nurses assist veterinarians in the treatment and care of sick or injured animals.

How people enter it

Entrants require GCSEs/S grades or an equivalent qualification. Entrants must obtain employment at an approved veterinary practice to gain practical experience and tuition with an employer for a minimum duration of two years. Candidates must also pass professional examinations before qualifying as a veterinary nurse.

What the work involves

• assists the veterinary surgeon during surgical and medical treatments of animals
• prepares operating theatre, sterilises equipment and assists in theatre as required
• dispenses and administers medication and applies dressings to animals under direction from the veterinarian
• handles animals during treatment
• collects and analyses blood, urine and other samples
• cares for animals in hospital accommodation and keeps accurate records
• maintains the biosecurity of the veterinary premises
• advises clients on preventative medicine to maintain appropriate animal health and welfare

Also called

Animal nurse · Veterinary nurse

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for veterinary nurses, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 7 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions