Enforcing U.K. Laws To Protect Farmed Animals: Still A Problem
In 2022, the non-profit organizations Animal Equality and The Animal Law Foundation teamed up to publish a report on what they term “the enforcement problem” — the gap that exists when laws are in place but not adequately enforced. The report summarized data gathered between 2018 and 2021 from Freedom of Information requests and investigations undertaken by U.K. animal protection organizations. It revealed poor levels of enforcement of welfare legislation for farmed animals across the region. The Animal Law Foundation has now updated the report with data from 2022 and 2023 to note any changes.
The Enforcement Problem Still Exists
Overall, since the original report, rates of inspection and non-compliance have decreased, while prosecution rates have increased — but not by much.
| 2018–2021 | 2022–2023 | |
| U.K. farms inspected | 2.95% | 2.62% |
| Inspections that identified non-compliance | 31.38% | 22.16% |
| Non-compliance that led to prosecutions | 0.33% | 0.55% |
Inspections
In 2022–2023, inspection rates across all four countries ranged from 2% to 4%. For England, Scotland, and Wales combined, there was an average of one inspector for every 878 farms, while in Northern Ireland, the ratio was one inspector for every 62 farms.
Complaints
Local authorities in England, Scotland, and Wales received 4,982 and 4,778 complaints relating to farmed animal welfare in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Most (around 70%) were received in England. Just over 50% of complaints were related to farms and around 40% were related to transport. The rest were about markets, border control, or unidentified premises.
Non-Compliance
In 2022–2023, around 19% of inspections in England, Scotland, and Wales revealed non-compliance — almost 1,700 inspections a year. This equates to between one in four and one in six inspections that identified non-compliance.
Formal Enforcement Action
Enforcement actions by local authorities can follow from a complaint or an inspection finding non-compliance, and range from formal notices to prosecution. For England, Scotland, and Wales combined, enforcement action was taken in about 3% of cases in 2022 and 4% of cases in 2023.
Some central authorities such as national government departments are also responsible for enforcement action. Data from these agencies indicated that, in Northern Ireland, the rate was around 1.5% in 2022 and 4% in 2023. In England, the rate was about 3% in 2022 and 1% in 2023. No data was available for Scotland or Wales.
Previous Convictions
Across all four countries, about 14% of individuals who were subject to enforcement action in 2022 had previously committed an animal welfare offence. In 2023, it was 13%.
Looking specifically at slaughterhouses, only Northern Ireland had individuals subject to enforcement action with previous animal welfare offences: 7% in 2022 and 14% in 2023.
Case Studies Of Non-Compliance
The report also showcases four ongoing cases of non-compliance where a lack of enforcement is causing significant animal welfare issues.
- The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 recognizes decapod crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs as sentient, while the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 prohibits causing avoidable pain, distress, or suffering to animals, including invertebrates. Yet, boiling crustaceans alive remains common industry practice.
- Under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, farmed fishes must have their welfare needs met and be spared unnecessary suffering. Although investigations have identified serious welfare issues, such as disease and deformities, no fish farms have been issued a formal notice or prosecuted.
- Multiple laws, such as the Animal Welfare Act 2006, protect farmed pigs from painful mutilations like tail docking. Other legislation such as the Mutilations (Permitted Procedures) (England) Regulations 2007 allows the procedure only as a last resort. However, investigations have shown that tail docking is still routinely practiced, and the lack of inspections makes the situation worse.
- Carrying farmed chickens upside down by their legs is illegal under European Transport Regulation 1/2005. Yet, investigations have revealed that the practice is still common, and plans are underway to legalize it rather than enforce the current law.
Data Limitations
The Animal Law Foundation acknowledges a number of limitations in their report, mainly based on the nature of the data they collected. These include:
- Differences in how respondents interpreted questions
- Incomplete responses
- Overlap from multiple authorities dealing with the same cases
- Different definitions of what constitutes a farm
- Staffing information provided in different formats
- Cases where the same premise was inspected more than once or had more than one non-compliance but was only counted once
The organization indicates how they accounted for these limitations and explains the potential impact on their results.
Conclusion
Overall, the large dataset The Animal Law Foundation has collected and analyzed shows that despite earlier findings of poor enforcement of farmed animal welfare laws in the U.K., there have been no practical improvements since then.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic could have played a role in the initial 2018–2021 data, the updated report strongly indicates that the levels of inspection and enforcement action in 2022–2023 fail to meet the expectations set out in law. This suggests that on their own, laws are not enough to adequately protect U.K. farmed animals from mistreatment and improvements could be made. The Animal Law Foundation aims to continue to raise awareness of the enforcement problem and support calls for change.
