ICMIF member The Veterinary Defence Society (VDS) has made a GBP 1.5 million in return of premiums shared between renewing members as a Mutual Bonus Discount on their 2026 renewal premium.
Reflecting VDS’s mutual model, the Mutual Bonus Discount or ‘return of premium’ allows members to share in any surplus funds that remain after supporting all current member service requirements and investing so that the VDS can continue to meet its members’ needs into the future.
The Mutual Bonus has been applied automatically to premiums when members renew.
This comes on the back of recent milestone anniversary celebrations at the VDS. In September 2025, the VDS celebrated a momentous milestone, 160 years of dedication to the veterinary professions. The same ethos and values underpinned by the mutual model remain the same today as they did when the Society was established in 1865. Built on those foundations and the foresight of its’ founding members, today the VDS offers its members a range of risk mitigation and management services including insurance, advice and guidance, risk reporting and quality improvement, and training and development.
1865 to 2015: The first 150 years
In 1865, a pioneering vet rejoicing in the name of Ephraim Alfred Friend organised a meeting of delegates from Liverpool, Lancashire and Yorkshire Veterinary Medical Associations, at which the ‘Veterinary Mutual Defence Society’ was formed. The motto ‘Defence, not Defiance’ was deliberately chosen to sum up the Society’s intent to defend or settle cases, wherever possible, without recourse to litigation.
Over the next year, membership numbers grew rapidly and, by the second meeting in 1866, the Society changed its name to ‘The National Veterinary Benevolent and Mutual Defence Society’ (NVB&MDS). In 1978, the two functions of insurance and benevolence were separated into two organisations – the Veterinary Defence Society (VDS) and the Veterinary Benevolent Fund, now known as Vetlife, and the association between VDS and Vetlife, as well as the Irish Veterinary Benevolent Fund (IVBF), established in 1982, remains to this day.
The last 10 years
Over the past 10 years, the VDS says it has been busier than at any other time in its history. The veterinary professions have faced profound changes over recent years, including the now many different models of practice, the development of specialised out-of-hours services and the utilisation of new technologies. In light of this, the mutual is always evolving and adapting to meet its’ members’ needs. Most recently, with the creation of VetSafe, a digital incident reporting tool that provides members with data, resources, benchmarking and insights that, together with the provision of training and education services, support the ongoing quality improvement of services and patient safety focus.
The mutual ethos that underpins the Society now is that which has always underpinned it, since those early meetings in Manchester in 1865, and members’ interests remain at the heart of everything the VDS does.
