Is the UK a world leader in animal welfare? Our latest report says otherwise

The UK loves to call itself a world leader in animal welfare. It’s a line repeated in government speeches, media headlines, and even proudly displayed on farming websites. But when you look closely – at how laws are actually enforced, at what happens behind the closed doors on industrial farms, and at how recent legal changes have quietly weakened protections – the picture becomes far less flattering.

At The Animal Law Foundation, we’ve been tracking this for years. Our latest report on The Enforcement Problem – now in its third year – digs into the data collected from over 160 enforcement bodies across the UK to see how well animal welfare laws are upheld in practice.

Inspections down and non-compliance up 

While the number of inspections on individual premises appears to have risen from 7,999 in 2023 to 14,227 in 2024, this rise is attributable to the inclusion of transport vehicle inspections, which were not included in our 2023 statistic. In 2024, there were 7,879 individual farms, markets and border premises inspected and 6,348 vehicles inspected, meaning transport amounted to 44.62% of all individual premises inspected at least once, apart from slaughterhouses. Vehicle inspections also detected non-compliance at far lower rates than farms, meaning the overall inspections to non-compliance rates for all premises are skewed as a result. 

Farm inspections on the other hand remain low, where only 2.2% of UK farms were inspected in 2024, meaning 97.8% of farms received no official welfare visit at all. 

When inspections do take place, non-compliance is found in 28.4% of cases, a significant rise from 22% in 2023.

Welfare complaints

In addition, only half of the welfare complaints made to local authorities resulted in an inspection.

Enforcement action

The last two reports, covering 2018–2023, also revealed a pattern of chronic under-enforcement.  2024 data revealed more of the same: Just 1.6% of breaches identified by local authorities across all farmed animal premises resulted in prosecution across England, Scotland, and Wales. Over 55% of local authorities that found non-compliance took no enforcement action whatsoever.

Some authorities reported zero prosecutions, even when multiple welfare breaches were identified.

The Enforcement Problem, still unsolved: Meanwhile, undercover investigations continue to show animals suffering in appalling conditions – Animal Justice Project found in several of its investigations of large commercial holdings in Lincolnshire and Northern Ireland pigs left to die in filthy pens and piglets thumped to death. Another investigation by Animal Equality found fish living in cramped conditions rife with sea lice. These are not isolated incidents. They’re symptoms of a deeper problem: a system that looks the other way.

Our data show that farms like the ones exposed by Animal Justice Project are rarely prosecuted.

Government response

Perhaps most concerning is how legal protections are being removed. Following a legal threat from The Animal law Foundation over the government’s unlawful Codes of Practice which allowed for the handling of chickens by their legs despite it being clearly forbidden by animal protection law, rather than enforce the law, the government introduced changes to the Welfare of Animals (Transport) EU regulations that removes this vital protection. The handling of chickens by their legs during transport – recognised as harmful to chickens – has now been legalised.

This change didn’t come because welfare science improved. It came because the rule was never enforced. Instead of ensuring compliance, the government simply lowered the standard.

This drew the attention of the House of Lords, which subsequently published a scrutiny report, echoing our concerns and highlighting that:

 ‘supplementary material provided by Defra suggests that neither the current legal requirement under Regulation 1/2005, nor the statutory guidance, are being followed by a significant part of the chicken industry at the moment, and that enforcement appears to be limited. This is a matter of concern.’

This is not what being a champion in animal welfare looks like.

The UK government cannot claim to be a world leader in animal welfare while simultaneously eroding legal protections and failing to enforce the laws that already exist.

This is our third report, and while we are encouraged by the growing recognition of the need for change, it’s also our third year of disappointment. The Enforcement Problem hasn’t gone away – and instead of fixing it, the government seems to be diluting the law to make the problem disappear on paper.

Where do we go from here?

It’s time to move past slogans about being a ‘world leader’ and start measuring leadership by action – not reputation. That means setting clear, science-based welfare standards, enforcing them consistently, and being transparent about what happens when they’re broken.

Animals deserve real protection, not empty promises.

You can read more about our third report on The Enforcement Problem here.