Animal Licensing Policy
10. Fees
10.1 Current Fees
A list setting out the current animal licensing fees can be found on the Buckinghamshire Council website here:
10.2 Statutory Provisions to recover fees
The relevant statutory provisions that enable the local authority to set and recover fees for animal licensing activities are set out within the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 and the Zoo Licensing Act 1981. DEFRA and the Local Government Animal Welfare Group also issue guidance to local authorities to support fee setting.
10.3 The Council’s approach to fee setting
The Council has made reference to the document “Open for business: Local Government Association (LGA) guidance on locally set licence fees”. The LGA guidance acknowledges that Councils are free to design their licensing service in a manner that best serves the needs of their community and recover the costs accordingly.
Buckinghamshire Council will take a reasonable and proportionate approach aiming to set a fee level that is sufficient to cover the cost, but not make a surplus, whilst providing value for money for the applicant. With this in mind vet fees are charged separately to allow for variation in size or complexity of the required inspection. In addition, some fees are listed in a tiered format to ensure fairness to smaller businesses where administration costs and inspection time are less.
10.4 Review of Fees
Generally, fees are subject to a full review every 3 years, however due to the relatively recent harmonisation of the animal licensing work activities of Buckinghamshire Council and the anticipated review of the LAIA Regulations at the end of 2023, fees will initially be reviewed annually to ensure these standards of fee setting are met.