What the DEFRA 2018 licence actually means

Since October 2018, anyone running a commercial dog daycare, home boarding or kennels business in England needs a licence from their local council. It is not optional. It is not a "nice to have". A daycare running without one is operating illegally. A boarder doing weekends from a spare room without one is operating illegally. Dog walking is the surprise exception - walking on its own is not a licensable activity under the 2018 regulations, and we explain below what covers walkers instead. The regulations were a serious reset of how the UK regulates dog care, and most people who book it have never heard of them.

That gap is why we built this directory. So before you read another word of star ratings or business descriptions on the site, here is what the licence actually means, what inspectors check, and why we surface it on every listing when no one else does.

The legal bit, kept short

The framework is called the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. It is sometimes called the DEFRA 2018 regulations because it sits under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Wales still licenses boarding under older law (the Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963). Scotland has had its own regime in force since 2021, the Animal Welfare and Licensing (Scotland) Regulations. Northern Ireland still relies on older law.

The licence covers five activities. Selling animals as pets. Providing or arranging the boarding of cats or dogs (which includes home boarding, daycare and kennels). Hiring out horses. Dog breeding. Keeping or training animals for exhibition. The one that matters for dog care is the boarding activity, which captures four sub-types - kennels, home boarding for dogs, dog day care, and home boarding for cats.

If a business does any of those four for money, they need a licence from the council where the business operates. There is no national register. Each council holds its own list, in its own format, often as a PDF on a page three clicks deep on the council website.

Where dog walkers fit

Walking is not one of the five activities, so a walker who only walks needs no licence under these regulations. The rules that do apply to walkers are local and contractual. Royal Parks and a number of borough schemes license commercial walkers and cap group sizes, typically at four dogs. Most insurers cap cover at six. And the moment a walker also boards or runs daycare - which many do - the boarding side needs the council licence like anyone else. So when you see a licence number on a walker's profile here, it is usually their boarding or daycare licence, and that is exactly what it covers.

What inspectors actually check

A council inspector visits the premises before the licence is granted, and again at intervals based on the star rating. They are usually an environmental health officer, sometimes a contracted vet. They follow a published checklist that runs to roughly 60 pages depending on activity.

For a daycare or kennels, the checklist covers ten broad areas.

Suitable environment

Floors, drainage, ventilation, temperature, lighting, noise. Is the space large enough for the number of dogs declared. Is there suitable separation between dogs that need it. Can the space be properly cleaned. Are escape routes secure.

Suitable diet

Where food is stored, how it is prepared, whether dietary requirements from owners are recorded and followed, fresh water access.

Monitoring of behaviour and training

Are dogs assessed before they are accepted. Are temperaments matched. Are there clear protocols for dogs that show stress or aggression. Is play monitored.

Animal housing and care

Resting areas, sleeping arrangements, group sizes, rest periods. For home boarding, whether the dog is left alone and for how long. For daycare, whether dogs get downtime.

Protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease

Vaccination requirements, parasite control, isolation procedures, first aid kit, vet relationship, sick dog protocols.

Staffing

Staff to dog ratios. Training records. DBS checks where relevant. Cover arrangements.

Insurance and record keeping

Public liability insurance with named cover for animal care. Daily record of dogs on site. Emergency contact records. Incident logs.

Fire and emergency

Fire detection, evacuation plan, emergency contacts, secondary care arrangements if the operator is incapacitated.

Transport

Vehicles, crates, ventilation, secured loads. This is where a lot of operators fail their first inspection.

Welfare during transit

Length of time in vehicles, water access during transport, temperature control.

That is roughly half the checklist and you can already see why this is meaningful. A licensed business has demonstrated all of the above to a council officer. An unlicensed business has demonstrated none of it to anyone.

Star ratings - what each one means

After the inspection, the council awards a star rating from 1 to 5, plus a "Higher Standard" flag if the business meets criteria beyond the minimum.

The rating is not a school report. It comes from a matrix of two things - whether the business meets the minimum standards or the optional higher standards, and how the council rates its risk. New businesses start as higher risk because there is no track record yet, so a brand-new operator who meets every minimum standard can still open on 1 or 2 stars. More stars mean a longer licence and a longer gap before re-inspection; 5 stars means higher standards met with a low risk rating.

A 5-star licence is not a marketing claim. It is the council saying, in writing, that the business met the higher standards with a low risk rating. That is meaningful. A 1 or 2-star licence is not a red flag on its own - it often just means the business is new and unproven - but it is worth asking how long they have been operating and when the next inspection is due.

You can see this in our directory. Tracy's Pet Pad in Bristol holds a 5-star Bristol City Council licence (reference AWLA/119044). Faye's Doggy Boutique in Liverpool holds a 5-star Liverpool City Council licence (LCC/AAL44). Walks with the Pack in Bristol holds a 4-star licence (AWLA/118635). Every one of those is a real number you can look up on the council website. None of those numbers appear on Rover, Gudog, or Pawshake.

Why no other UK directory shows this

Honest answer is that it is annoying to collect. Every English council publishes its own list, in its own format. Some publish CSVs. Some publish PDFs. Some publish HTML tables that update every few months. A few publish nothing public at all and you have to FOI them.

Rover, Pawshake and Gudog are sitter marketplaces that took the Airbnb-style approach of letting anyone sign up and then leaving licence verification to the user. They are not lying about it - read the small print and they say so - but the user experience signals trust through reviews, photos, and "verified ID" badges that mean nothing legally. A walker on Rover with a green tick has been ID-checked by Rover. That is not the same thing as being licensed to walk dogs commercially under English law.

We built the directory the other way round. The licence is the gate. A business does not appear in our database unless we have matched it to a real council licence record. The star rating shown on every listing is the council's, not ours. The reference number is the one the council issued, not one we invented.

What this means for you when you book

Three things.

First, when you see a star rating on this site, it is the council's rating. Take it at face value. A 5-star home boarder has passed a serious inspection. A 3-star daycare is fully compliant with the regulations.

Second, when you book a business that holds a licence, you have legal recourse if something goes wrong. The council can investigate, suspend, or revoke the licence. A complaint to your local environmental health team is a real lever. Booking with an unlicensed sitter strips that lever away.

Third, the absence of a licence is not always a deal-breaker. Walkers who only walk do not need one, and that is the law working as written, not a corner being cut. But if a business is boarding dogs or running daycare for money and does not hold a licence, they are operating outside the law. That is worth knowing before you hand over a key.

How to check yourself

Every business on this site links to the issuing council. You can search the council's animal licensing register directly. For Bristol, it is Bristol City Council Animal Welfare. For Liverpool, Liverpool City Council Public Protection. For London boroughs, each borough holds its own register - Westminster, Camden, Hackney, Southwark and so on.

If you book through us, we have already done the check. If you book elsewhere, ask the business for their council licence number. A licensed operator will give it to you in 30 seconds. An unlicensed one will give you a long answer.

That is the whole point of the regulations. The licence is the trust signal. Surfacing it is the directory's job.