Junior Vets In Universities Survey Report

Transcription

1 To apply to join BVU in Unite please look at the list of job titles and job codes below and chose the job title and job code that most closely matches what you do VETERINARY SURGEON JOB CODE J10132 Definition covers members of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, including retired vets] VETERINARY STUDENT JOB CODE J10130 VETERINARY NURSE JOB CODE Definition covers Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons registered / listed veterinary nurses] VETERINARY NURSE STUDENT JOB CODE J10129 VETERINARY AUXILLIARY JOB CODE J10127 Definition covers all other staff dealing with animals or doing animal-related work, like Animal Nursing Assistants (ANAs). The British Veterinary Union in Unite (BVU) Junior Vets In Universities Survey Report VETERINARY ADMINISTRATIVE JOB CODE J10126 Definition covers Practice Managers, Receptionists, Book Keepers, etc. VETERINARY SUPPORT JOB CODE J10131 Definition covers support staff who do NOT deal with animals, such as lab technicians, cleaners, drivers, etc. On the application form enter one of the job titles under the space for Job Title, and enter the matching job code in the bottom right-hand corner in the space for Job Code. Return your completed application to: Unite Health Sector, 128 Theobald s Road, London, WC1X 8TN. (JN5063) HB250712

2 Junior Vets In Universities Survey Report The British Veterinary Union in Unite (BVU) was launched a year ago. It was formed in the backdrop of high levels of stress, anxiety mental illness and suicides recorded amongst vets in the UK. Vets felt that a new organisation with the exclusive objective of looking after the interests and welfare of veterinary professionals, veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses, was urgently needed. The BVU now represents veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses, veterinary students and allied staff working in the UK veterinary profession. Over the short period of its existence, the BVU has responded to a number of consultations from the RCVS and DEFRA defending the rights of veterinary professionals. In response to credible reports of exploitation of junior vets at UK universities, the BVU conducted an investigation into the matter and a report with clear findings and recommendations is presented here. Investing in the next generation of vets must be the focus of all UK veterinary schools. When vets seek to develop their professional excellence through postgraduate training programmes, they should ensure that they are fairly treated and appropriately rewarded. The British Veterinary Union is calling on all postgraduate clinical programmes to be treated as salaried work. Treating the junior vets enrolled on these programmes as employees and providing them with all employment related benefits and appropriate remuneration at a level at least equivocal to their contemporaries in private practice should be the norm. Variations between veterinary schools must be addressed, so that there is consistent practice. Academia needs to attract more vets, until veterinary schools establish parity in the employment package of vets, it is losing a great opportunity to develop excellence, recruit to their courses and improve standards. The British Veterinary Union will defend the rights of all vets, whether students, newly qualified or highly experienced in their field. Rachael Maskell National Officer for Health Unite the Union Shams Mir Chairman, Professional Advisory Committee, British Veterinary Union 2 3

3 Executive Summary Based on credible reports of exploitation of junior veterinary surgeons in UK veterinary schools, the BVU launched an online survey to investigate the problem. Realising that the online survey may not provide a full and balanced picture, information was also directly sought from all the seven veterinary schools using the Freedom of Information Act. There are about 250 junior vets enrolled in postgraduate clinical programmes as Junior Clinical Training Scholars (JCTS), Senior Clinical Training Scholars (SCTS) and Interns (specifically in Liverpool). The results revealed a massive disparity between the terms and conditions received on similar programmes amongst the veterinary schools and the extent of the disadvantage suffered by junior vets. The University of Liverpool recruits Interns and SCTS as salaried employees and offers them all employment benefits. In contrast JCTS at Liverpool and the JCTS and SCTS at all other universities are treated as students and hence deprived of employment related rights and benefits. The JCTS do not acquire an accredited or standalone qualification at any of the veterinary schools. However, the SCTS can obtain a master s degree at Edinburgh and London; at other schools they only gain eligibility to a diploma qualification. Junior vets enrolled on these programmes perform real work as vets, without which the hospitals at the veterinary schools would struggle to function. Therefore, these programmes do not strictly meet the requirements of exemption from tax implications and employment benefits. This is confirmed by the fact that the Interns and SCTS at Liverpool are duly recruited on taxable salaries and are provided full employment related benefits. The remunerations paid to most JCTS and some SCTS vets are so low that some would struggle to cover the National Minimum Wage. They perform out of hours work (OOH) and to a variable extent are involved in undergraduate teaching, but they are either underpaid or not paid at all for this work. Since these vets are not recruited as employees (other than the Interns and SCTS at Liverpool), they are deprived of National Insurance contribution & superannuation benefits and statutory levels of annual, and paid maternity or sick leave. There is no uniformity in the additional support provided, such as CPD funding, at different veterinary schools. On the grounds of poor financial reward and some alleged maltreatment, most junior vets who responded to the survey feel put off from continuing a career in academia or research. It is recommended that the UK veterinary schools should stop exploiting junior vets; treat their postgraduate clinical programmes as work and salary based professional programmes rather than scholarship based academic programmes. Junior vets should enrol in these programmes as employees and be provided with appropriate employment benefits including statutory annual holidays, paid sick and maternity leave, without provoking intervention from agencies like HMRC. The vets in these programmes deserve to be paid at least on par with their contemporaries in private practice and the terms and conditions of appointment to these programmes should be harmonised between the universities so that the aspiring young vets can choose the universities purely on the basis of their excellence in delivering the postgraduate programmes. This approach will help to attract more talented young vets to these programmes, raise the standards across the universities and encourage them to stay in academia and research. Introduction Soon after the inception of the BVU last year, a request was received to investigate alleged exploitation of junior vets in UK veterinary schools. A preliminary fact finding investigation showed that there was real scope for full scale investigation. An online survey facility was set up on the BVU website, which was aimed at individual junior vets involved in different post graduate programmes. These programmes include Interns (specific to University of Liverpool) and Junior Clinical Training Scholars (JCTS) and Senior Clinical Training Scholars (SCTS) and other similar programmes. In order to produce a complete and balanced picture of the situation, relevant information was requested from all the seven veterinary schools under the Freedom of Information Act. These include the veterinary schools at Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Nottingham. The results related to junior vets working for each programme at different veterinary schools have been compared below, followed by some comments. The conclusions and recommendations are given at the end of this document. INTERNS (LIVERPOOL) Only Liverpool Veterinary School employs junior vets as interns. There are 11 junior vets registered under this programme in the Small Animal, Equine and Farm Animal divisions. The duration of the programme is one year and no qualification is obtained. The gross annual remuneration is 25,854 with benefits of superannuation and national insurance contributions. The junior vets are entitled to paid maternity and sick leave. Annual holidays are 25 days excluding bank holidays. The Small Animal and Equine divisions provide 1,100 CPD allowance per annum, where as it is negotiable within the Farm Animal division. Free accommodation is not provided. The junior vets in all the divisions do variable amount of out of hour (OOH) work but only the Equine division pays this at 100 per month. Interns are involved in undergraduate teaching in some form but no additional remuneration is paid. The proportion of time allowed for study is 25% off clinics in the Equine division, whereas it is negotiable in the Farm Animal division. There is no such time allocation at the Small Animal division. These Interns are recruited as employees and are supposed to enjoy all employment related statutory benefits. The CPD allowance is not uniform between the various divisions at the school. For their OOH work, they are either not paid at all or massively underpaid. JUNIOR CLINICAL TRAINING SCHOLARS (JCTS) There are 69 junior vets registered under this programme, with course duration of 1 year, except at the Equine division at Liverpool where it is 4 years. Junior vets at Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow obtain no qualification whatsoever. The Bristol programme claims to give eligibility to residency, London issues a Certificate, Nottingham issue a PG Certificate, and Liverpool vets are enrolled for an MPhil programme. 4 5

4 The gross per annum remuneration varies from about 12,500 in Glasgow to about 20,000 in Liverpool. Most schools have some provision of free accommodation with the exception of Bristol and Liverpool. None of the schools provides superannuation benefits or National Insurance contributions. The annual leave entitlement (excluding bank holidays) ranges from 12 days in London to 25 days in Edinburgh, whereas Liverpool claim this to be non-applicable for their junior vets. Only Nottingham and Cambridge have some provision for paid maternity leave; Cambridge only considers this on individual basis. Other than Edinburgh and Liverpool, all other schools have some sort of paid sick leave arrangement. The CPD allowance ranges from 200 in London to 600 in Edinburgh whereas Liverpool claims to pay 2,500 depending on external funding but Cambridge offer nothing. Except Edinburgh, the junior vets at all schools report doing some amount of out of hours work but the work is only paid at Bristol ( 2,593) and Liverpool ( 1200) per annum. Other than Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow, junior vets at all other schools are involved in some sort of undergraduate teaching but only Nottingham pay for this work at the rate of 10 per hour. The proportion of time allowed for study is variable between various schools, but no time is allocated for this purpose at Cambridge. In the form of other support Bristol pay 400 towards university registration fees and Edinburgh pay 3,400 towards university fees per annum. The junior vets at three, out of the six, veterinary schools obtain no qualifications whatsoever. A Certificate issued by London or Nottingham or the standalone MPhil obtainable at Liverpool are all of questionable value as a qualification. The Bristol claim of their programme providing eligibility to residency is not quite right, as participation in such a programme is not a universal or essential requirement for residency programmes. There is massive discrepancy in what the various schools pay to the junior vets in the JCTS programmes ranging from about 12,500 (Glasgow) 20,000 (Liverpool) per annum. Given the full time nature of the JCTS programmes plus the OOH work, presuming that the JCTS vets work on an average no more than 48 hours per week in line with the European Working Time Regulations, the remunerations provided by Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Nottingham would not even cover the national minimum wage of 6.08 per hour (workers aged 21 and over). Whilst the other schools provide some sort of accommodation, Bristol ( 15,568) and Liverpool ( 20,000) appearing to pay above the National Minimum Wage do not provide any accommodation to their JCTS vets. A workers statutory paid holiday entitlement is 5.8 weeks (28 days for a worker working a five-day week), which can include public and bank holidays. JCTS in London are allowed only 20 days including bank and public holidays, whereas Liverpool allows none. There is serious discrepancy between various schools with regards to payments for OOH work and CPD allowance. eligibility to take European Diploma examinations. Remuneration varies from the lowest at London 14,902-16,222 to the highest at Liverpool 25,854-27,428 / 29,972. Only Liverpool junior vets benefit from superannuation and national insurance benefits. None of the schools provide free accommodation, however Nottingham say that they provide increased stipend (not specified) to scholars without free accommodation. The annual holiday entitlement (excluding bank holidays) ranges from the lowest of 17 days at London to the highest of 25 days at Edinburgh. Bristol, Edinburgh and London do not allow any maternity leave; it is decided on individual basis at Cambridge, but Glasgow, Liverpool and Nottingham has some provision for this purpose. Whilst other schools offer variable levels of paid sick leave, Edinburgh do not. The CPD allowance ranges from 2,000 at Glasgow, through to 1,100 at Liverpool to 500 at Cambridge and Nottingham. The junior vets at all schools work out of hours for variable number of hours but no additional remunerations are paid at Cambridge, Glasgow, London & Nottingham, whereas other schools pay variable amounts: Bristol ( 2,593), Edinburgh ( 31.5 / Unit) Liverpool from 1,200 (Equine & Farm Animal divisions) to 2,560 (Small Animal hospital). Only Liverpool and Edinburgh say their SCTS vets are formally involved in undergraduate teaching whilst others consider this to be an informal or limited role though scholars at Nottingham only are paid for this work at the rate of 3.10 per hour. All schools claim to allow the junior vets a proportion of time for study, which is very variable and not well defined. As further support, Bristol pay 400 towards university registration fees; Edinburgh pay 3,400 towards Postgraduate fees per annum; and Liverpool (Small Animal hospital) pay full exam fees for RCVS certificate and full enrolment fee and full single exam fee for Diplomas. There is discrepancy in the time needed to complete the SCTS programme and the potential qualifications to be obtained between veterinary schools. There is serious discrepancy in what the SCTS junior vets are paid at various schools. The lowest paying being the RVC London that pays 14,902 first year. Only junior vets at Liverpool benefit from superannuation and National Insurance benefits. Whereas other schools allow expected annual holiday time, the SCTS in London are allowed only 17 days excluding bank and public holidays. Three out of the six schools do not have a provision for maternity leave and Cambridge decides this on individual basis. SCTS junior vets at all schools work OOH; three pay no additional remuneration, where as others pay very variable but low rates. All schools appear to involve SCTS junior vets in undergraduate teaching in one or other form, but only Nottingham pays them at the rate of 3.10 per hour. The time allowed for study is not well defined and variable between the schools. Other benefits provided also vary significantly between the schools. SENIOR CLINICAL TRAINING SCHOLARS There are over 163 Senior Clinical Training Scholar (SCTS) junior vets with the highest number of 51 at the Royal Veterinary College London. The duration of the course is 3 years at Bristol, Cambridge, Liverpool and London, whereas it is 3-4 years at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Nottingham. In Edinburgh and London junior vets can obtain a master s degree MSc/MVSc or MVM, at other schools they can gain NON-STIPENDIARY SENIOR CLINCIAL TRAINING SCHOLARS (BRISTOL) This is a unique group of three self-funded junior vets registered for a three year long programme with eligibility to a European Diploma qualification. Out of the three, two are British citizens and the third one is from continental Europe. With regards to undergraduate teaching they are said to deal 6 7

5 with clinical cases only but no didactic teaching. Other than 20 days annual holiday they are not entitled to any other rights and benefits. The three year programme likely to lead to a European Diploma qualification involves three years of hard work for this small group without any financial or employment benefits. INDVIDUAL RESPONSES Seven individual responses were received, of which three are from SCTS vets, one from a JCTS vet, one from an Intern. The remaining two were from a Resident in a large private practice and from a senior academic and clinician from a veterinary school. Compared to their contemporaries in private practice, only one is content with the financial reward, while others consider it to be poor or very poor with one stating that he / she would be earning double, if [I had] stayed in private practice and another respondent states I took a 70% cut to work at the vet school. per annum for CPD. The respondent states: I bring in more money than I did in private practice yet get paid 10,000 less per annum! With reference to long term career in academia, the respondent states: It is just not affordable to dedicate my life to research. In my heart of hearts I would love to pursue this career direction but I would have to give up any idea of having children or owning a house as it would never be an option with the salary. The long term financial rewards are too low. The respondent senior clinician and academic states: I m looking to retire. You re [BVU] at a very narrow spectrum of the profession it is not just the young that suffer and I suspect you will find a similar picture in every vet school. The majority of the responders from the universities are dissatisfied with the financial reward for the work they do and do not think they are fairly paid in comparison to their contemporaries in private practice. Responders from the universities do not want to continue their career in veterinary academia due to poor reward and maltreatment at the universities. According to a responding senior academic from a veterinary school, the situation for senior academics at the universities is not satisfactory either. Asked whether they were fairly compensated for their work, four of the five said they were slightly dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with only one responds as being content. The latter also reported being content with financial reward in comparison to contemporaries. All the five responders from the target veterinary schools work OOH but only one reports being paid at the rate of 31 for a 12 hour shift. All are involved in undergraduate teaching but none were paid for this work. The percentage of time engaged in seeing clinical cases varies from %. Only one of the five considers a long term career in academia, others intend to return to private practice. Two of the latter recorded the following as the reason: (a) I had originally wanted to stay in academia; however residency might be changing my mind. I intend to become a specialist and return to private referral practice ; (b) With a PhD [I] was committed to a career in academia. My treatment as a resident has all but killed this dream. Recorded as additional comments, the following are noteworthy: (a) I average at least 60 hours /week minimum, and this additional work is not recognised. We are expected to work OOH, and if you have worked all night we still have to work a full shift the next day. This is exhausting. (b) Treatment of junior staff by senior staff is extremely poor, could be considered tantamount to bullying in some cases. The respondent who is a resident at a large private practice is paid 31,600 per annum along with Superannuation, National Insurance contributions, plus paid maternity leave and expects about 1,000 CONCLUSIONS The three self-funded SCTS junior vets at Bristol are perhaps the most disadvantaged of all vets in Britain. The lack of any financial reward whatsoever for their hard work, which is expected to last for a period of three years is the extreme form of exploitation of junior vets, dedicated to achieve academic excellence. For the Interns at Liverpool, though enjoying some benefits of being employees, there is massive disparity in the CPD benefits across the three divisions, and they are disadvantaged for not being paid for their OOH work. As none of the JCTS programmes at the vet schools can deliver an accredited qualification at completion of the tenure, there are no grounds for these programmes to be classed as educational programmes and to deserve tax exemption. Besides the massive discrepancy in the level of remuneration paid to JCTS vets, most veterinary schools fail to pay them even the National Minimum Wage and those that might claim to do so would find it hard to prove given the number of hours worked by these vets. There is serious discrepancy between various vet schools with regards to financial reward offered for out of hour (OOH) work and CPD funding for their JCTS vets. Besides the discrepancy in the duration of the SCTS programmes and the potential qualifications obtainable, there is a massive discrepancy between what SCTS vets are paid at various schools. The payment at the lowest paying (RVC London) - with 14,902 for the first year - does not even appear to cover the National Minimum Wage. Given the higher cost of living in London area, such a low payment is absolutely unjustifiable. It is noteworthy that according to the recent (2010) SPVS (Society of Practicing Veterinary Surgeons) survey of salary amongst veterinary surgeons, vets in private practice earn a median starting salary of over 30,000 rising to over 40,000 by year five in practice. 8 9

6 Whereas the SCTS vets at Liverpool are recruited and treated as employees, it is hard to justify why that should not be the case at the other veterinary schools. A workers statutory paid holiday entitlement is 5.8 weeks (28 days for a worker working a five-day week), which can include public and bank holidays. The vets in SCTS and JCTS programmes at RVC London are only allowed 12 and 17 days respectively excluding bank holidays, which is a clear violation of their holiday rights. The non-existent provision of maternity leave in a profession with ever increasing number of women is yet another violation of the rights of vets in the JCTS and SCTS programmes, and it is incredible that the Cambridge vet school considers the right to maternity leave on an individual basis. There is a huge discrepancy between what the various schools pay the vets in SCTS programmes for OOH work, which ranges from nothing (three vet schools) to a variable rate amongst other schools. This again is a reflection of exploitation of the young vets at the veterinary schools. Whereas the vets in SCTS programmes at all schools are involved in undergraduate teaching, only Nottingham pays an hourly remuneration, which is half the National Minimum Wage. Obviously, lack of remuneration or underpayment for undergraduate teaching is unjustifiable. Lack of clear allocation of time allowed for studies to vets under the JCTS and SCTS programmes at various vet schools is a reflection of the fact that these programmes are not, as claimed, pure academic programmes. Indeed, these are work based programmes. Poor financial reward and unfair terms and conditions during the JCTS and SCTS programmes appear to be putting off many junior vets to continue a career in academia and research. RECOMMENDATIONS The UK veterinary schools should stop exploiting junior vets devoted to pursuing professional excellence through various postgraduate clinical programmes of the universities. In order to achieve this, the following steps should be taken: The JCTS, SCTS and other such postgraduate clinical programmes should be treated as work and salary based professional programmes rather than scholarship based academic programmes. The universities should proactively work towards achieving this objective without provoking intervention from agencies like HMRC. Like the Internship and the JCTS programmes at Liverpool, all veterinary schools should enrol and treat all vets in JCTS, SCTS and other similar programmes as employees and provide them all employment related benefits in accordance with relevant employment laws. The salaries of the vets in these programmes should at least match the relevant salary earned by their contemporaries in private practice and be reviewed on a regular basis. In order to attract more talented young vets to postgraduate clinical programmes and to encourage them to stay in academia and research, the universities should ensure that the vets in the JCTS and SCTS programmes are financially well rewarded and fairly treated. The terms and conditions of the JCTS, SCTS and similar programmes should be harmonised between various veterinary schools so that the vets aspiring to join these programmes choose the veterinary schools on the grounds of their excellence in delivering the professional programme rather than associated perks. This will eventually lead to improved standards across the veterinary schools