Animal welfare

Animal welfare licences cover anyone who who is looking after, hiring out, breeding, or selling animals in order to make financial gains, or where a commission or fee is charged. This is covered by the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018.

These licences are for anyone:

• Selling animals as pets
• providing cat boarding, kennel boarding for dogs, home boarding for dogs (including day care in the home), day care boarding for dogs (boarding of dogs not in the home or kennel environment)
• hiring out horses for riding or instruction in riding
• breeding dogs
• keeping or training animals for exhibition.

These activities are covered by a number of licences. Some licences also need a veterinary inspection and all premises will be inspected by an expert in animal welfare.

You will need a licence if you are making financial gain from these activities. It is your responsibility to keep records, and to prove you don't need a licence to us.

Apply for licences

You will need to download the relevant application form from this page and return a completed form, with payment to us. You can pay for your licence through our online payment system.

After receiving your application and payment we'll arrange for an inspection to take place. You must not trade until your licence has been granted.

You can return your completed application to us at the email or postal address in the contact details section of this page.

How much does it cost?

Licences are granted for 1, 2 or 3 years (the length of licence is dependent upon the Star Rating awarded by the Animal Inspection Officer following his/her assessment and inspection of your premises) and must be renewed before their expiry date if you want to continue trading.

If you carry out multiple activities there is a flat fee of £145 plus the cost of the highest priced licence you need.

Pay for a licence

Veterinary costs

In addition to the licence costs some licences require a veterinary inspection before the application can be approved.

• new breeding of dogs licence / new kennels licence / new cattery licence: veterinary costs - £250, plus £50 visit fee
• hiring out of horses licence: veterinary costs - £45 per horse, plus £50 visit fee

Additional costs

There may also be additional costs you need to pay for existing licences.

• Re-assessment of star rating costs - £105
• small change to the details of a licence - £25
• larger changes to the details of a licence - £175
• copies of existing licences - £15.