If you provide home boarding or day care for dogs, you may need an animal activity licence. To obtain a licence, you need to ensure that you meet the specific licence conditions.
Do I need a licence?
You will need a licence if you are:
- A business which provides overnight accommodation for dogs in a home environment. This must be inside a domestic home which is not the usual home where the animals are kept, and not in external kennel accommodation (where external kennel accommodation is used, this would be classes as providing boarding in kennels for dogs)
- A business which provides daytime accommodation for dogs away from the dogs normal place of residence and do not keep them overnight.
See further guidance on home boarding (external link) and day care for dogs (external link).
Franchises
Applications are submitted by the franchisee and the licence will be issued to the franchisee. The licence will list the names and addresses of all the host families registered with the franchisee. Individual host families will not need their own licence, unless they meet the business test.
Prior to issuing a licence all host families will be inspected and will be given one star rating based on an average across all the host families. All host family inspections will be arranged via the franchisee.
Anyone carrying out this activity without the relevant licence could be prosecuted and face imprisonment of up to 6 months, receive a fine or both.
Fees
To find out how much your animal activity licence will cost visit:
How to apply
- BEFORE you apply you must pay the relevant fee online
- Complete the application form - you will need to add your payment receipt number to your completed application
- Complete the relevant inspection form:
- The following documents must be produced with the application form. Failure to produce these documents within 7 days of submitting your application will result in it being returned and any fees paid refunded:
- A completed inspection form (this shows how you are complying with and / or will comply with the relevant conditions)
- Operating procedures covering the following:
- Infection Control Procedure
- Feeding Regimes
- Cleaning Regimes
- Transportation
- Monitoring Health & Welfare
- The Death or Escape of an Animal
- Emergency Care Plan
- A plan of the premises
- Insurance Policy
- Risk Assessments (including a fire risk assessment)
- Qualifications (if any)
- Training policy / records.
- Submit the application and supporting documents via email to the licensing team or by post to the Licensing Team, PO Box 100, Wigan, WN1 3DS.
Please note: The licence, if granted, is non-transferrable should the premises / business be sold or taken over by another operator. If the licence holder dies, the personal representative of the licence holder can take on the licence provided that they inform the local authority within 28 days of the death that they are now the operators.
Inspections
We are required to carry out an inspection of all premises where licensable activities take place before we can approve an application.
As part of your inspection, you will be given a rating based on specific criteria.
What do I do if I already have a licence?
Before the expiry date of your licence, you will need to make an application for a licence under the new regulations.
You are advised to familiarise yourself with the new licence conditions to ensure you are able to comply with these before making a new application - see further guidance on home boarding (external link) and day care for dogs (external link).
Public register
We maintain a public register of all the businesses which hold an animal activity licence, a copy of which is available below. This will be updated on a regular basis.