Overview
Under The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, animal boarding businesses (including home boarders and day carers), dog breeders, pet shops and riding establishments will be covered under a single type of licence from that date. It will be known as an 'animal activity licence', with new nationally set licence conditions for businesses providing animal-related services.
We cannot change these conditions as they are already set in the legislation. Businesses operating with these activities will need to comply with the conditions and will be assessed before the licence is granted to make sure they can meet them.
The guidance notes explaining the conditions that businesses need to meet in order to receive an animal activities licence are set out on the CFSG website.
This guidance covers:
- dog breeding
- pet selling
- hiring out horses
- boarding for dogs and cats
- home boarding for dogs
- dog day care
- keeping or training animals for exhibition
You may still need to apply for a licence if you’re running a business, even if you’re only looking after a small number of animals in your own home. Premises will be assessed as low or high risk and given a Star Rating from 1 to 5 depending on welfare standards and taking into account a range of factors set out in the Regulations. This system will be used to determine the length of the licence and the frequency of inspections during the term of the licence.