Annual Report published detailing RCVS achievements and finances in 2024

Ahead of our Annual General Meeting, we have published our Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2024, setting out key RCVS achievements and projects through the year.

The Annual Report will be formally presented at Royal College Day on Friday 4 July at One Great George Street and is now available to download from the publications section of our website.

The document sets out how the College, in the course of the year in review, met the four ambitions (clarity, compassion, courage and confidence) set out in the final year of our 2020 to 2024 Strategic Plan, as well as any additional projects undertaken during the year such as responding to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) investigation of the veterinary sector.

Some of the highlights of 2024 noted in the Annual Report include:

• A new statutory instrument bringing in significant changes to the Statutory Examination for Membership based on feedback from those who had undertaken the exam. Changes included allowing same year re-sits of written exams and separating out the payments for the written and practical exams.
• The launch of the Veterinary Nursing Vision project to engage with veterinary nurses to see what they think – or hope – the profession will look like in 2035 in areas such as education and training, the structure of care delivery, what veterinary nurses can do, and practice culture.
• Holding an Artificial Intelligence Roundtable to examine the current – and potential – impact of AI in the veterinary sector in areas such as clinical practice, education and research, and to consider the guardrails that could be put in place to ensure that AI tools are used in an open and proper way.
• The publication of a new workforce model, developed with the Institute of Employment Studies, measuring current demands for different veterinary services and projecting these into the future in order to identify gaps and potential future issues.
• Initiatives within the College such as progress on the refurbishment of the College’s new headquarters and the beginning of the development process for a new customer relationship management system, website and visual identity/ branding.
• Responding to the challenge of the CMA investigation – including increased staff workload in gathering and providing data and information to the CMA for its investigation, and considering how the RCVS may better address some of the issues raised by the CMA’s consumer research, within our existing legal framework.

Ahead of the AGM, veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses are able to submit questions about any aspect of the Annual Report. Subject to time, these will be answered at the AGM, or followed up in writing after the event.

Questions should be emailed to Deborah Rowlanes, our Events Manager, on [email protected] no later than 5pm on Wednesday 2 July 2025.

Please note: We updated this page on 27 June to correct an error in the published deadline date for questions.