* Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs * Animal & Plant Health Agency Form OV19(S): SCALE OF FEES FOR SERVICES RENDERED IN SCOTLAND BY OFFICIAL VETERINARIANS Updated 23

May 2025 APPLIES TO SCOTLAND CONTENTS * 1. Call out fees * 2. Fees for undertaking tasks, paid per head * 3. Fees for undertaking tasks, paid on an hourly basis * 4. Wasted visits * 5.

Meetings * 6. Additional travel costs * 7. VAT Print this page © Crown copyright 2025 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise

stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or

operation by agreement between the Scottish Government and the British Veterinary Association, and carried out under the Terms of Business in force at the time. Effective from 1 April 2025.

1. CALL OUT FEES A single call out (visit) fee is payable for each visit to a holding. Work conducted over several parts of a holding (e.g. different locations) or at different ScotMoves

holdings will be considered a single visit. All types of visit attract the same call out fee (the visit to read a tuberculin test is a separate visit to the call out to initiate the test).

TB tests involving 150 or fewer animals are expected to be completed within a single pair of visits. However, we understand that this is not always possible for a number of logistical

reasons. When it is not possible to do part one of the test (and therefore part two as well) in a single visit contact APHA to get approval for this. Send an email at least 5 working days

before the test to [email protected]. You will either receive confirmation that it is OK to proceed or will be contacted for further information. A note will be made on the record

of the farm and when your invoice is sent in, we can check on the record whether it was pre-arranged. Sometimes things crop up that mean tests unexpectedly need to be split. When this is

the case let us know you will not be able to complete part one of the test in a day. APHA staff will assess the case and, again, you will receive confirmation or a request for further

information. The agreed fees are below. 1.1 CALL OUT FEE £79.90 1.2 EXCEPTIONAL MILEAGE (WHERE TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE VISIT EXCEEDS 55 MILES ROUND TRIP) £0.45 per additional mile travelled 2.

FEES FOR UNDERTAKING TASKS, PAID PER HEAD Fees are payable in line with the following scale for the following types of work. The fees include the cost of all consumables, packaging and

postage (where applicable), with the exception of Tuberculin for official tests which will be supplied by APHA free of charge: WORK AREA FEE PER ANIMAL TESTED Tuberculin testing (the fee is

for 2 visits and includes the clinical inspection of animals tested) £3.50 Brucellosis blood sampling £2.70 Brucellosis full abortion investigation £26.60 Anthrax investigation £20.00

Enzootic bovine leukosis testing £4.00 3. FEES FOR UNDERTAKING TASKS, PAID ON AN HOURLY BASIS Fees are payable in line with the following rates for the following types of work. The work must

be undertaken in accordance with instructions issued by Veterinary Lead, APHA, and the time taken for each job must be accepted by them as reasonable. Travelling time must be excluded.

Where no other types of work are undertaken the visit fee is considered to include the first 20 minutes of work. After the first 20 minutes of work, then time should be charged by the minute

for each minute of work after that (pro-rata calculated from the hourly fee). There is an hourly fee of £106.20 for the following work areas or tasks instructed by APHA: * bluetongue, foot

and mouth disease, glanders, parasitic mange, rabies, sheep scab, swine fever, tuberculosis (other than tuberculin testing), swine vesicular disease, equine infectious anaemia, equine viral

arteritis, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, National Scrapie Plans * quarantine examinations * inspection of animals and poultry in markets * importation or exportation of animals

(including horses) * welfare visits or reports * court attendance * movement of animals * Remote Highlands and Islands eligible downtime payment (see ‘Additional travel costs’) 4. WASTED

VISITS Wasted visit means a visit where the Veterinary Lead is satisfied that, through no fault of the OV practice, no work could be carried out. A visit fee (and mileage over 55 miles) may

be charged in the normal way but no other fee is payable. 5. MEETINGS Mileage at £0.45p per mile may be payable for attendance at official OV meetings in Scotland. No call-out or task fees

may be charged for attending such sessions or meetings. 6. ADDITIONAL TRAVEL COSTS Where additional travel expenses such as ferry costs, air fares, tolls or, exceptionally, overnight

accommodation costs are necessarily incurred in the performance of Official Veterinarian tasks these may be reclaimed at cost. Copies of receipts must be provided. Scottish Government

understand that travel to some premises in Scotland to carry out OV work can be long and complex. To ensure that practices are properly supported to service these remote farm locations,

where travel time exceeds 90 minutes one way, practices can claim eligible downtime (EDT) payment by the minute per minute over that 90 minutes. This is to be claimed for farms within the

usual catchment of the practice, and not for those travelling outside their operating area unless in exceptional circumstances (contact with APHA would be required if, for operational or

availability problems, a vet is providing OV services for a client outside of their normal catchment).  This time can be claimed for road transport between 8:30am and 6:00pm, and only

exceptionally otherwise. For ferries and other public means of transport, the EDT payment can be claimed: * from initial check-in to disembarkation when travelling on public transport * when

the need arises outside 8:30am to 6:00pm (for example if a ferry requires you to check in at 7:30am, time can be claimed from 7:30am) 7. VAT Note all fees are exclusive of VAT, which should

be added to invoices at the appropriate rate. May 2025 Back to top