Welfare of animals: appeal to a tribunal
How to challenge a decision to take away your licence to sell animals as pets, provide boarding for cats or dogs, hire out horses, breed dogs and keep or train animals for exhibition.
What you can appeal against
Taking away your licence
The council can refuse to give you a new licence, or they can refuse to renew your licence.
They can also take away an existing licence or change the conditions attached to it.
The tribunal
Your appeal will be dealt with by a tribunal in the General Regulatory Chamber.
The tribunal is independent of Government, and will consider both sides before it reaches a decision. The tribunal can decide to overturn, alter or confirm the council’s decision.
If you or your witness or representative is outside the UK and wants to give live video or audio evidence, contact the tribunal to request it. Tell the tribunal what country you, the witness or representative is in and what type of evidence is being given. You must do this as soon as possible.
Time limits for appealing
You have 28 days to appeal after the notice is sent to you.
If you miss the time limit, you can ask for more time to appeal. The tribunal will decide if it can still take your case.
The decision may come into force at the end of the 28 days allowed for your appeal. If you want to delay this, write to the tribunal and explain why you want the decision to be ‘stayed’ and put on hold.
How to appeal
Complete the relevant General Regulatory Chamber (First-tier Tribunal) form.
Clearly say why you want to appeal against the decision.
Include the decision notice and any supporting documents.
Send the form to grc@justice.gov.uk or:
General Regulatory Chamber
HM Courts & Tribunals Service
PO Box 9300
Leicester
LE1 8DJ
Telephone: 0300 123 4504
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm
Find out about call charges
Tribunal staff can explain how the process works, but they cannot give you legal advice.
What happens next
The tribunal will write to you about the next steps.
Find out more about General Regulatory Chamber hearings and decisions.
Legislation and rules
You have the right to appeal to the tribunal under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018.
You can find detailed rules on how your appeal will be handled in the General Regulatory Chamber procedure rules.
The other animal welfare rights of appeal are listed in the rules and rights of appeal leaflet.
Updates to this page
Last updated 31 January 2024 + show all updates
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Updated the how to appeal section with a link to the General Regulatory Chamber (First-tier Tribunal) forms collection.
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Changed telephone number for GRC and bad postcode
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Link to appeal form and rights of appeal leaflet added.
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First published.