How many vets are there in the UK? 2026 figures

There are 7,602 vet practices in the UK as of 19 October 2026, by our count of the RCVS register, and 30,138 vets registered to practise here (RCVS, 31 March 2024). Corporate groups own 62% of those practices. Six groups own nearly all of them, and the biggest, IVC Evidensia, has 1,305.

Every figure on this page gives its date and source. Our own counts come from the live directory and change as practices open, close or are sold.

How many vets are there in the UK?

The RCVS keeps the official register of vets and vet nurses. These are its latest published figures:

At 31 March	2023	2024
Vets registered to practise in the UK	28,823	30,138
All vets on the register, including overseas and non-practising	37,001	37,801
Registered veterinary nurses	22,306	23,540

Source: RCVS Facts 2024, tables 1 and 2.

The RCVS hasn’t published its 2025 figures yet.

How many vet practices are there in the UK?

7,602, as of 19 October 2026. We count every open practice on the RCVS register. Each site counts once, so a main surgery and its branch surgery are two practices.

Nation	Practices	Corporate	Independent
England	6,335	64%	35%
Scotland	626	57%	42%
Wales	423	52%	47%
Northern Ireland	218	42%	57%
UK	7,602	62%	37%

Source: Who Owns Your Vet?, 19 October 2026. Charities run the other 1–2% in each nation. Percentages are rounded.

A few listings that aren’t open UK practices, such as pet crematoria, are still in this count while we remove them. See our methodology.

What share of UK vets are corporate-owned?

Of the 7,602 practices:

• 4,713 (62%) belong to a corporate group. That includes 851 Vets4Pets and Companion Care practices, which Pets at Home owns jointly with local vets.
• 2,794 (37%) are independent: we found no corporate owner.
• 95 (1%) are run by charities such as the PDSA and Blue Cross.

The CMA’s 2026 report found the same pattern. Large groups owned about 10% of practices in 2013 and “over 60%” by 2026.

To see who owns your own vet, search for the practice: its page shows the owner and how we know.

Which companies own the most vet practices?

Group	Practices	Share	Owned by
IVC Evidensia	1,305	17.2%	Private equity
CVS Group	911	12.0%	Listed company
Pets at Home	854	11.2%	Listed company
VetPartners	794	10.4%	Private equity
Linnaeus	424	5.6%	Mars Petcare
Medivet	405	5.3%	Private equity

Practices: Who Owns Your Vet?, 19 October 2026. Owners: CMA final report summary, 24 March 2026, paragraph 23.

Together these six own 4,693 practices, 62% of the UK total. One smaller group, Kin Vet Community, owns the other 20 corporate practices. See every group by size.

Other counts can be lower. The CMA counted around 180 first-opinion practices at Linnaeus, for example: the everyday surgeries where you register a pet. We count every site the RCVS lists.

Where are the most independent vets?

Ownership varies a lot by region. In the East Midlands, seven in ten practices are corporate. In Mid Wales, two in three are independent.

Region	Practices	Corporate	Independent
East Midlands	487	70%	29%
West Midlands	560	70%	29%
North East	293	65%	33%
North West	778	65%	34%
South East	1,418	65%	35%
Yorkshire	606	65%	33%
East of England	704	61%	39%
South West	982	60%	39%
South Wales	274	60%	39%
London	507	57%	39%
Scotland	626	57%	42%
Northern Ireland	218	42%	57%
North Wales	72	39%	57%
Mid Wales	77	32%	66%

Source: Who Owns Your Vet?, 19 October 2026 (North and Mid Wales, 18 October). Charities make up the rest of each row. London has the most: 20 of its 507 practices.

IVC Evidensia is the largest group in 9 of the 14 regions. VetPartners is largest in London, Yorkshire, the North East and the North West, and CVS Group in Mid Wales.

How is vet ownership changing?

• Most groups don’t put their name on the door. Only two of the six large groups, Medivet and Pets at Home, use one brand across their practices (CMA, 2026). Our recent changes page lists every change of owner, new practice and closure we record.
• New practices are opening. We track planned openings, mostly from planning applications, on new vets near you.
• Practices must soon say who owns them. Under the CMA’s 2026 Order, every practice must show its ownership from 22 March 2027. Groups with 15 or more practices must publish a price list from 22 December 2026, and everyone else from 22 March 2027. See what the CMA reforms change.

Most vet businesses are still small. The CMA found that 76% of vet businesses run a single practice, though those single practices make up only 20% of all first-opinion practices.

Why do other sources give different numbers?

Counts vary because sources count different things on different dates:

• Vets or practices? “How many vets” can mean people (30,138 practising vets) or places (7,602 practices). Check which one a figure means.
• Sites or surgeries? We count each site on the register. The CMA counts first-opinion practices, the everyday surgeries where you register your pet.
• Listings or premises? Our 7,602 is every listing on the RCVS register as we read it, branch surgeries included. The RCVS’s own figure is different: 6,522 registered practice premises in March 2024.

How we decide who owns each practice is set out in our methodology.

Using these figures

You can quote anything on this page with a link back. Our data is free to reuse for non-commercial purposes under CC BY-NC 4.0. Credit “Who Owns Your Vet?”. For the latest figures for a region, including a CSV download, see ownership data by region.