Types of animal welfare licences

Once your application is received, a licensing officer will contact you to make arrangements to carry out an inspection of your premises. The officer may be accompanied by an approved animal health inspector or vet.

The purpose of the inspection is to ensure the premises meet the standards required by the regulations. Find out more about inspections.

How your licence is granted

The length of licence and the star rating granted will be based on your risk and welfare standards. 

To find out more on the scoring matrix used to determine your ratings, go to page 16 of the procedural guidance for local authorities on GOV.UK.

Dependant on the star rating of your premises, you may be granted a 1, 2 or 3 year licence.

Issuing your licence

Your licence will only be issued to you when all the necessary inspections and checks have been carried out, and the premises meets the required standards as set out in the guidance notes. The application fee will be payable in order to submit your application. If successful, the grant fee will become payable.

If your application is refused

If your application is refused, you will not be refunded the application fee, as this fee is to cover the assessment of your application.

Any person who is refused a licence or who objects to the licensing conditions can appeal to the Croydon Magistrates Court.

If you disagree with the decision of the council

If you disagree with the decision of the council to refuse to grant or renew a license or to revoke or vary a license, you may appeal to the first-tier Tribunal within 28 days beginning with the day following the date of the decision.

Appeals against star ratings

If you want appeal the star rating given by the the officer undertaking the inspection on behalf of the local authority, the appeal should be made in writing to us in 21 days (including weekends and bank holidays) after your licence has been issued. This can be done by email.

If you're disputing a rating, we encourage you to discuss this informally first with the inspecting officer so that there is an opportunity to help explain for them to explain how the rating was worked out. This may help resolve the matter without you having to lodge an appeal.

Any such discussions do not form part of the formal appeal process and do not change the deadline within which an appeal must be lodged. 

For more information about appealing against a star rating, please contact the licensing team.

Croydon Council
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon , CR0 1EA

Email: licensing@croydon.gov.uk.
Telephone: 020 8760 5466

How we determine an appeal

We will have 21 days (including weekends and bank holidays) from the date they receive the appeal to consider the appeal, within which time they must issue a decision to you.

The head of the department that issued the licences or designated deputy at the council will determine the appeal. No officer involved in the production of the rating, or in the inspection on which the rating is based should consider the appeal.

A local authority will determine the outcome of an appeal by considering the paperwork associated with the inspection and the past record of the business. The appeal process should be transparent. The costs of any additional inspections related to the appeal will be borne by the applicant unless it results in a higher rating being awarded. This will depend on the nature of the dispute and whether a decision can or cannot be made on the basis of the paperwork.

If you disagree with the outcome of the appeal

If you disagree with the outcome of the appeal, you can challenge the local authority’s decision by means of judicial review.