How it works in 8 simple steps
Step 1: You identify an animal or person may be at risk, or you want to check someone is not a risk before you rehome an animal with them/buy and animal from them.
Step 2: You apply to the police under the Animal Protection Disclosure Scheme for information about an individuals history of abuse and/or neglect of animals. All you need is their name, address and date of birth.
Step 3: The police receive your request and consider whether there is a “pressing need” for this information to be shared and whether they can share the information with you.
Step 4a: The police consider information should shared and will make a disclosure of information directly relating to animal abuse and/or neglect - see below for details of typical offences which could be disclosed.
Step 4b: The police consider information cannot be shared and will provide an explanation for their reasoning.
Step 4c: The police confirm there is no information to be disclosed (i.e. there are no records held).
Step 5: The person receiving the information must confirm that any information shared must remain confidential and cannot be disclosed to any other third party.
Step 6: Police disclose the information to the person best placed to safeguard the animal or person (this may or may not be the person who made the request).
Step 7: The person safeguarding the animal or person can now make an informed decision
Step 8: An animal and/or person has been saved from potential domestic abuse, animal abuse and/or neglect
Key Legislation - Animal Welfare Act 2006
The main offences in which a person is charged and/or prosecuted for animal related offences are:
Causing unnecessary suffering (Section 4): It is an offence to cause an animal physical or mental suffering that is unnecessary.
Carrying out a non-exempted mutilation(Section 5): Prohibits the mutilation of a protected animal unless a procedure is specifically exempted by regulations.
Docking the tail of a dog except where permitted (Section 6): Generally bans the docking of a dog's tail, with limited exceptions for certified working dogs under five days old.
Administering a poison to an animal(Section 7): Makes it an offence to administer a poisonous or injurious substance to a protected animal without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.
Involvement in an animal fight (Section 8): Creates specific offences relating to animal fights, including causing, attempting to cause, or being present at a fight.
Breach of duty of person responsible for animal to ensure welfare (Section 9): Places a duty on those responsible for animals to take reasonable steps to meet the animal's needs, such as a suitable environment, diet, and protection from pain, suffering, injury, and disease.
But what about…
Data protection means you cannot release data of criminal investigations to the general public without good reason.
We agree! Holly’s Law only seeks to disclose information which is directly relevant to animal abuse/neglect to a limited number of member of the public, for the purpose of protecting animals from the risk of abuse/neglect. Holly’s Law deems this is a “pressing need” under Common Law Police Disclosure (CLPD). Police will need to receive a specific detailed request from the person requesting the information, and can only release this in specific circumstances and to individuals who need to know this information of the purpose of protecting animals.
Lack of proportionality - not all cases are serious abuse.
It is true and acknowledged there are varying degrees of animal abuse and neglect, however abuse which starts as “minor” is proven to increase to more significant types of abuse. Since April 2007 (when the Animal Welfare Act was enacted) to September 2024, the RSPCA alone has initiated 15,070 prosecutions. Holly’s Law believes any form of abuse or neglect of an animal is unacceptable regardless of the severity, and that if we can protect animals from abuse, we should take action.
The risk of harassment of those named on the disclosure.
Under Holly’s Law, any information disclosed to an individual by police will be subject to strict confidentiality rules, and those who receive the disclosure will not be permitted to share this with any other party. In some instances, the request will be made by someone who is not deemed the most suitable person to safeguard the animal. In these instances, Holly’s Law proposes that the disclosure is made to the most suitable person.
The authorities already have access to the necessary information.
Some charities such as the RSPCA do share information with police as well as conduct their own investigation's. This is not true however of most breeders, rehoming centres or other individuals related to the care of animals.
The police do not have the capacity to keep an animal abuse register.
We know from our research on previous parliamentary campaigns a separate animal abuse register is not supported. However, Holly’s Law relies on the existing information held on the Police National Database (PND), so there is no need to any separate animal abuse registers to be created or held.
