Penalty notices for animal health and welfare offences
Guidance for enforcement authorities who use penalty notices for animal health and welfare offences.
- From:
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- Published
- 11 December 2023
- Last updated
-
2113NovemberAugust20242025 — See all updates
Applies to England
Documents
Statutory guidance on the use of penalty notices for animal health and welfare offences (web-accessible PDF)
Ref: ISBN 978-1-5286-4589-8, E03036818 12/23
Unnumbered act paper
PDF, 986 KB, 14 pages
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Statutory guidance on the use of penalty notices for animal health and welfare offences (print-ready PDF)
Ref: ISBN 978-1-5286-4589-8, E03036818 12/23
Unnumbered act paper
PDF, 1000 KB, 16 pages
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Penalty notice calculator (animal health and welfare offences)
MS Excel Spreadsheet, 94.2 KB
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Penalty notice reporting spreadsheet (animal health and welfare offences)
MS Excel Spreadsheet, 53 KB
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Details
Enforcement authorities and constables must ‘have regard’ to this statutory guidance when deciding whether to issue a penalty notice and the amount to be specified in the notice.
Enforcement authorities and constables in England should use this guidance alongside the regulations that detail which offences are covered within the penalty notice regime.
You can use the calculator to determine the penalty notice amount.
You can use the reporting spreadsheet to submit information to Defra about the:
- penalty notices you’ve issued (submit this information at the end of each financial year)
- payments you’ve made to the consolidated fund
You must pay any money you’ve received from paid penalty notices (after deducting investigation and administration costs) into the consolidated fund.
Related content
Relevant legislation
Details
Enforcement authorities and constables must ‘have regard’ to this statutory guidance when deciding whether to issue a penalty notice and the amount to be specified in the notice.
Enforcement authorities and constables in England should use this guidance alongside the regulations that detail which offences are covered within the penalty notice regime.
You can use the calculator to determine the penalty notice amount.
You can use the reporting spreadsheet to submit information to Defra about the:
- penalty notices you’ve issued (submit this information at the end of each financial year)
- payments you’ve made to the consolidated fund
You must pay any money you’ve received from paid penalty notices (after deducting investigation and administration costs) into the consolidated fund.
Related content
Relevant legislation
Updates to this page
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Update history
2025-08-13 16:31
Added a link to the list of penalty notices issued by enforcement authorities for animal health and welfare offences in England.
2024-11-21 08:44
Added spreadsheet for submitting information about penalty notices issued for animal health and welfare offences, and about payments made to the consolidated fund. Updated penalty notice calculator.
2023-12-18 14:23
Added penalty notice calculator that enforcement authorities and constables can use to determine the penalty notice amount.
2023-12-11 17:11
First published.