Mission Report: DEFRA Compliance

Filed by: Agent Nine Lives, Deputy Director. Subject: Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. Applicable to: licensed dog boarding, home boarding, and daycare businesses in England. Devolved administrations operate parallel schemes.

The Regulations require licensed operators to maintain evidence of their compliance across five broad areas. The platform records this evidence as a by-product of ordinary operation — the operator does not maintain a separate binder.

1. Records of animals kept. For each dog in care: identifying details, dates in and out, the person authorised to collect. The platform's booking record and client profile satisfy this.

2. Suitability of the environment. A written environment policy stating the set-points for boarding and daycare spaces (e.g. 18°C year-round, 21.5°C in winter) and how they are maintained. The platform holds this policy alongside the licence; readings from a smart thermostat or a manual daily check can be attached as evidence at inspection time. Home-boarding operators are not required by the regulations to log every reading — the stable set-point + written policy is what the inspector reads first.

3. Fire safety. A written fire and evacuation procedure, evidence of drills, extinguisher check dates, and alarm test dates. The platform stores the procedure document, drill log, and periodic check logs.

4. Health and welfare. Veterinary contact details, medication schedules administered, incident and injury reports, isolation procedures. The platform's medical history, medication log, and incident report modules cover this.

5. Staff competence. Records of training completed, qualifications held, and current DBS status where applicable. The platform's staff compliance panel maintains a per-staff evidence file.

The Agency's guidance: enter the readings, upload the certificates, log the drills. The platform does the filing. The inspector will find the paperwork ready.