Gender Pay Gap – reported figures for Independent Vetcare Limited

Gender Pay Gap Statement from Chief Executive Officer

At IVC Evidensia, we’re committed to ensuring that our people are fairly rewarded for the vital work they do and have equitable access to development and career progression.

Our 2025 UK gender pay gap results reflect the composition of both our own workforce and the wider veterinary profession. As in previous years, the gap is driven mainly by role distribution rather than differences in pay for comparable roles. These sector-wide patterns continue to influence both our hourly and bonus pay gaps, and we remain focused on addressing the underlying and historical factors that contribute to these outcomes.
 
For example, this year we introduced a refreshed UK Career Pathways framework. It sets out clearer progression routes across veterinary, nursing and support roles, defining the capabilities required for each stage. This brings greater transparency around career progression and supports consistent, equitable advancement.
 
We have continued to make progress in female representation in leadership. Women now hold 55% of senior roles in the UK, exceeding the target of 50%. We remain focused on achieving 60% female leadership by 2030. Ongoing investment in leadership capability, including our new Elevating Leadership in Practice programme, with 79% women attendees, helps support this ambition.
 
While we’re making progress, we recognise that closing the gender pay gap requires sustained focus. We remain committed to ensuring development, progression, and reward are equitable, and that opportunities are equally accessible to all our people.
 
Simon Smith, Group CEO

All data as at snapshot date of 5 April each year

PROPORTION OF MALES AND FEMALES RECEIVING A BONUS


PROPORTION OF MALES & FEMALES BY PAY QUARTER

Explanation of figures

Our 2025 results show that the hourly mean and median pay gaps remain broadly stable compared with last year. The hourly mean pay gap is 40.01% and the median pay gap is 51.73%, reflecting the structural composition of IVC Evidensia and the wider veterinary profession.
 
Women represent 88% of colleagues in scope and are the majority across all four pay quartiles. However, more than half of male colleagues are concentrated in the upper pay quartile. This partly reflects the profession’s historically male-dominated workforce. As a result, the male median hourly rate sits within the upper quartile, while the female median falls within the lower middle quartile. This distribution helps explain the scale of the median gap.
 
The primary driver of the gap continues to be role distribution rather than differences in pay for like-for-like roles. Around 55% of all our male colleagues work as vets or Clinical Directors, compared with 22% of all our female colleagues, which influences overall statistical averages.
 
Bonus outcomes have shifted this year. The mean bonus gap has narrowed to 41.5%, and the median bonus gap is –9.8%, meaning the median bonus paid to women is higher than that paid to men. A key factor behind this movement is the discontinuation of small Pet Health Plan (PHP) commission payments from 2024 onwards. For statutory reporting purposes these payments were classified as bonus, and although they were very low in value, they were widely distributed across clinic teams. As a result, they had been a significant contributory factor to the much wider bonus gap in previous years. The discontinuation of these payments also explains the reduction in the % of women receiving a bonus since 2024.
 
Bonus eligibility patterns also shape outcomes. In the year to April 2025, 38.41% of men received a bonus compared with 17.55% of women, reflecting the higher proportion of men working in operational and clinic leadership roles that attract bonus eligibility.

How our people strategy supports pay equity

Alongside our statutory gender pay gap disclosures, our broader people strategy reflects the sustained work underway to build an inclusive organisation. This is also outlined in our Positive Pawprint Report sustainability strategy report, published annually.
 
Our graduate intake reflects the gender profile of the profession. In 2025, 91% of our UK graduate vets were women (2024: 84%), consistent with RCVS data showing that women represent a clear majority of new entrants to the veterinary profession. This continued demographic trend influences the composition of our workforce and, over time, the distribution of roles across pay quartiles.
 
In 2025, we introduced a refreshed UK Career Pathways framework, setting out clear progression routes across veterinary, nursing and client care roles, alongside defined competencies and development expectations. We have also refreshed our UK pay bands and will continue to evolve our pay framework in 2026 to ensure full alignment with these pathways and continued market consistency.
 
Across UK First Opinion roles including veterinary, nursing and practice support positions, over 98% of job advertisements include a salary range. These roles account for the majority of our hiring activity, and this transparency supports consistency in pay setting.
 
We continue to strengthen our UK leadership pipeline and progression structures. In 2025, we introduced a new leadership model and framework across our practices, identifying a single accountable leader role to bolster clarity and practice accountability, alongside defined progression routes into senior leadership roles.
 
To support this structural change, the Elevating Leadership in Practice immersion programme was launched in June 2025, with participation to date comprising 79% women and 21% men. In addition, in November 2025 we launched Aspire, an 18-month UK emerging leader programme designed to support future progression into the new single accountable leader roles, with 94% of participants to date being women. Together these initiatives support progression into senior roles and we believe will help strengthen the gender balance of leadership populations across our UK business.
 
We continue to strengthen policies that support colleagues through different life stages, including enhanced family friendly provisions (including maternity and paternity leave, and fertility leave) and flexible working arrangements. Flexible working is widely adopted, with 35% of new hires in our UK practices over the past year joining on part-time working arrangements.
 
We remain committed to ensuring all colleagues are fairly rewarded for their contribution and have equal access to progression opportunities. Our people strategy will continue to evolve our pay, reward, and progression frameworks to support pay parity across our UK teams.