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Council elections

RCVS Council comprises 24 members, each of them serving for a 4-year term of office. Six are appointed lay members, two are appointed veterinary nurse members, three are appointed by the Veterinary Schools Council to represent the overall number of RCVS-accredited veterinary schools, and 13 by direct election, held annually.

In May 2018, a Legislative Reform Order amending the governance arrangements of the RCVS received ministerial approval. This amendment made a number of changes to the composition of RCVS Council, including a reduction in the number of elected places available on Council from 24 to 13 over a staged transition.

Council members are also now only able to serve a total of 3 consecutive 4-year terms and will need to take a 2-year break between before standing for Council again.

RCVS Council election 2025 - election candidates announced 

We are delighted to announce that for the 2025 RCVS Council elections there will be 20 candidates standing for election for the four available places on Council. The candidates are:

Quiz the candidates

Ahead of the start of the election in March 2025, we will be running our ‘Quiz the candidates’ initiative in which veterinary surgeons can submit questions to the candidates standing in the RCVS Council election, in order to better understand them and their views. However, due to the additional information now included in each of their statements, this year candidates will only answer one question of their choice each.

Before submitting questions to the candidates, please note the RCVS will only accept one question per person. Offensive, defamatory and inaccurate questions will be rejected by the Returning Officer and not be passed on to candidates.

Veterinary surgeons can submit a question to the RCVS Council candidates by emailing [email protected]

Members of the professions have until Friday 28 February 2025 to submit their question.

For further information about RCVS Council and its elections, please contact Dawn Wiggins, Secretary to RCVS Council, on [email protected] 

View results of previous elections