Dog daycare licence fees: what every council in England charges

A dog daycare licence is one national licence, issued under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 and inspected against the same Defra guidance everywhere. Each council sets the fee. The process guidance says it must be fair and may cover the application, the inspection, compliance checks and enforcement. In practice the price depends on the postcode.

Cheapest first, by the lowest figure each council gives. Where a council prices by the number of dogs or the length of the licence, the whole range is shown. Some add a vet's inspection on top; the notes say where.

The licence fee is paid again at every renewal, and how often depends on the star rating. A one or two star licence lasts a year, three or four stars two years, and five stars three years. Over three years a five-star daycare pays once; a two-star daycare pays three times. See how ratings fall in your area in the star ratings by council, and what the higher standards cost in the five-star cost calculator.

• Preston. A figure of £840 appears in a search summary of the council's page, but the page itself would not open for us to confirm it.
• Chichester. A figure of £410 to £595 appears in a search summary of the council's page, but the page itself would not open for us to confirm it.
• Manchester. A figure of £167 to £307 appears in a search summary of the council's page, but the page itself would not open for us to confirm it.
• Blackburn with Darwen. A figure of £375 appears in a search summary of the council's page, but the page itself would not open for us to confirm it.
• East Staffordshire. A figure of £374 appears in a search summary of the council's page, but the page itself would not open for us to confirm it.
• Great Yarmouth. A figure of £583 appears in a search summary of the council's page, but the page itself would not open for us to confirm it.
• Newcastle. A figure of £150 appears in a search summary of the council's page, but the page itself would not open for us to confirm it.
• Derbyshire Dales. The homepage loads but every licensing, fees and documents page returns HTTP 403 to automated requests, so the 2026-27 fees document could not be read.
• Sutton. The fees page lists boarding only as home (£522 + £472 new) or commercial kennels and catteries (£711 + £472 new) with no day care line and no statement of which applies, and the site now blocks automated access so this could not be rechecked.
• Rotherham. The council site has no animal licensing or boarding fee page in its sitemap, and the committee papers site holding the 2026-27 fees appendix refuses connections.
• South Tyneside. The council site and its committee papers site returns a Cloudflare bot check (HTTP 403) on every page, so no fee page could be read.
• Torbay. The council website refuses connections and its committee papers site returns HTTP 403, so no fee page could be read.
• Bracknell Forest. Fees are set by the Public Protection Partnership, whose site and committee papers block automated access (HTTP 403 or refused connection), so the application plus hourly granting fee could not be confirmed.
• Doncaster. The council site, its 2026/27 fees PDF and its committee papers site all sit behind a bot check (HTTP 403), so the boarding licence fee that covers day care could not be read.
• Middlesbrough. The council site returns a Cloudflare bot check (HTTP 403) on every page and its committee papers site sits behind an Azure WAF challenge, so no fee page could be read.
• Torridge. The council site and its committee papers site returns a Cloudflare bot check (HTTP 403) on every page, so no fee page could be read.
• Reading. Reading lists providing day care for dogs as a licensable activity, but its fee table has no day care line (only catteries and kennels £751 and home boarders £507 or £550) and does not say which applies.
• Worcestershire. The county council is not the licensing authority; Worcestershire Regulatory Services handles licences for the six districts and its animal activity page publishes no fee, so there is no single county figure.
• Sunderland. The council publishes an animal licensing fees page, but the site returns a Cloudflare bot check (HTTP 403) on every page, so the figure could not be read.
• Wigan. The council site blocks every fetch with a Cloudflare check and its committee papers site sits behind an Azure WAF challenge, so no fee could be read.
• Barnet. Fees are in an Animal Licence Fees and Charges PDF on barnet.gov.uk, but the site and its committee papers site return HTTP 403 to every automated request.
• West Berkshire. Licensing runs through the Public Protection Partnership, whose site and the West Berkshire committee papers block automated access, so the 2026/27 day care fee could not be confirmed from the source.
• Gateshead. The council site returns a Cloudflare bot check (HTTP 403) on every page and its committee papers site sits behind an Azure WAF challenge; a boarding fee of £360.45 seen earlier in search snippets has no line naming day care.
• Swale. The council site returns a Cloudflare bot check (HTTP 403) on every page and its committee papers site sits behind an Azure WAF challenge, so no fee page could be read.
• West Devon. The council site returns a human verification page (HTTP 405) on every fetch, so no fee page could be read.
• Bolton. The 2026-27 licensing fees list home boarding (£137) and non-home boarding establishments (£274) under the old Acts, with no dog day care line and nothing saying which applies to day care.
• Lewes and Eastbourne. The councils' site returns a Cloudflare bot check (HTTP 403) on every page and the committee papers site sits behind an Azure WAF challenge, so the £183.75 application figure seen in search-index text could not be confirmed with its grant part.
• South Cambridgeshire. The fee table has rows only for kennels and catteries (from £364 new plus maintenance) and home boarding (£267 new plus maintenance) with no day care line, and does not say which applies to dog day care.
• North Lincolnshire. The council site returns a bot verification page or refuses connection for every fetch, so no fee page could be read.
• Luton. Luton's animal boarding licence page (which covers dog day care) and its application form publish no fee, and no licensing fee schedule was found on the council site.
• Merton. Merton's animal licences page confirms day care is licensable but shows no fee; the fee is only shown inside the Regulatory Services Hub application, and no Merton fee schedule lists it.
• Cambridge. Cambridge lists day care for dogs as licensable but its fee table has only an 'Animal boarding' heading and does not say that heading covers day care, so we cannot attribute a figure.
• Three Rivers. The council's fees schedule from 12 January 2026 lists Dog Day Care (Commercial) at £351 new applicant, £561 for a 2 year licence and £838 for a 3 year licence, but does not say whether these add together, so the total for a new licence cannot be stated without guessing.
• Gosport. Gosport's website blocks automated access and its committee site search returned no animal licence fee schedule; the first pass found no figure on the boarding page or in the 2026 fees report.
• East Riding. The day care licence page gives no fee (payment is taken at the end of the online form) and the site now sits behind a captcha, so no fee schedule could be checked.
• Islington. The animal boarding and day care licence page publishes no fee, and no animal licence fee page exists among the council's published licensing fee pages.
• South Gloucestershire. The animal licensing page confirms day care is licensable but publishes no fee and directs applicants to the animal health team by email.
• Stockton. Council website blocks automated access (bot check or 403) and its committee papers site was unreachable or blocked too, so no council page could be opened to confirm a fee.
• West Oxfordshire. Council website blocks automated access (bot check or 403) and its committee papers site was unreachable or blocked too, so no council page could be opened to confirm a fee.
• Cotswold. The council has a specific 'Providing Day Care for Dogs' fee, but its website and meetings site both block automated access, so the figure could not be read.
• Exeter. Council website blocks automated access (bot check or 403) and its committee papers site was unreachable or blocked too, so no council page could be opened to confirm a fee.
• South Hams. Council website blocks automated access (bot check or 403) and its committee papers site was unreachable or blocked too, so no council page could be opened to confirm a fee.
• Southampton. The council website sits behind an Imperva security check that blocks automated access, and no other council source for the fee could be reached.
• Teignbridge. Council website blocks automated access (bot check or 403) and its committee papers site was unreachable or blocked too, so no council page could be opened to confirm a fee.
• Waltham Forest. The animal welfare licence pages publish no fees and there is no dog day care page; the site now also sits behind a bot check.
• Tendring. Tendring's 2026/27 animal licence fees list only kennels and home boarding of dogs, and its boarding page does not say either line covers day care.
• Uttlesford. Council website blocks automated access (bot check or 403) and its committee papers site was unreachable or blocked too, so no council page could be opened to confirm a fee.
• Newham. The Doggy Day-care Licence page says the cost depends on star rating but publishes no figure and asks applicants to email or phone.
• North East Derbyshire. Council website blocks automated access (bot check or 403) and its committee papers site was unreachable or blocked too, so no council page could be opened to confirm a fee.
• Hyndburn. The animal boarding licence page gives no fee and the only environmental health fees document on the site dates from January 2012.
• Dacorum. The council website and committee papers refused every connection during this pass, so no current fee could be confirmed.
• City of London. The January 2026 Animal Health fees report's fee schedule appendix could not be retrieved, and no City of London animal licensing fee page was found.
• Richmond. The application form refers to a separate fee guide that is not published online; no day care fee appears on the council site.
• New Forest. The animal licence page blocks automated access (403) and the committee site was unreachable, so the £444 figure seen in search-index text could not be confirmed.
• Sheffield. Sheffield's fee table has no day care row and says fees are provided on application; the site now also sits behind a bot check.
• Isle of Wight. Council website blocks automated access (bot check or 403) and its committee papers site was unreachable or blocked too, so no council page could be opened to confirm a fee.

The first 44 councils were checked by hand between 22 September and 11 October 2026 for the Genera Licensing Report 2026. The rest were read from each council's own fee page or fees and charges schedule on 12 October 2026. We took the total for a new dog day care licence, adding the application and grant parts where a council splits them. Where a council has no day care line but says its boarding licence covers day care, we used the boarding fee and say so. Only council sources are used; a figure seen only in a search summary is listed as not found until the council page can be read.

Fees change, usually each April. Each row shows the date we read it and links to the council page, so check there before you apply. The statutory guidance on fees is in the Defra licensing process guidance.