AAL 2018 & GDPR compliance

Sail through your licensing inspection

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 require licensed boarding, daycare and home-boarding businesses to keep detailed records on every animal in their care - and GDPR sets the rules for the customer data behind them. KennelBooker keeps those records for you, as a side effect of running your business.

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KennelBooker daily overview showing pets on site with dietary and medical flags

What the 2018 licensing regulations ask of you

Under DEFRA's statutory guidance, your local authority licence comes with record-keeping conditions. The headlines:

A register for every animal

Name, age, sex, neuter status, microchip number and breed or description; arrival and departure dates; which dogs share a household; owner contact details and emergency contacts, including someone locally available.

Health & care records

The pet's normal vet and insurance details, relevant medical and behavioural history, diet and related requirements, and details of any medical treatment being administered during the stay.

Vaccination evidence

Dates of each dog's most recent vaccination, worming and flea treatments. Current vaccination against parvovirus, distemper, infectious canine hepatitis and leptospirosis is required, with primary courses completed at least 2 weeks before boarding.

Documented consents

Owner consent forms and documented permissions - for example for dogs sharing accommodation or emergency veterinary treatment.

Three-year retention

Licence-condition records must be kept for at least 3 years from creation, be available to an inspector in a visible and legible form, and electronic records must be backed up.

Higher standards, longer licences

Businesses meeting the minimum standards plus at least half of the optional higher standards can earn 4-5 star ratings - and with them, longer licences and fewer renewal fees. Good records are the evidence.

Summary of DEFRA's statutory guidance for local authorities (England). Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland operate their own licensing schemes - always confirm requirements with your local authority. This page is general information, not legal advice.

How KennelBooker keeps those records for you

You don't maintain a compliance system next to your booking system. They're the same system.

The register builds itself

Every pet profile holds the details the register requires - identity, breed, sex, identification, owner contacts, emergency contacts, vet details, diet, medication and behavioural notes. Customers enter and update most of it themselves through the online booking portal, so the record is complete before the pet arrives.

Vaccination evidence, chased automatically

Owners upload vaccination certificates to their profile and record the dates. KennelBooker alerts you at booking and again at check-in if anything is missing or expired - so the gap is caught before the inspector ever could.

Consents, signed and stored

Digital waivers are signed at registration or per booking type, stored against the customer account, and retrievable whenever you need to show documented owner permission. No paper, no filing cabinet, no "it's here somewhere".

Daily care, documented

Record feeding, medication, exercise and toilet breaks against each stay as your team does them. Dietary and medical flags surface on the daily overview, and run cards print with feeding instructions and medical notes for every kennel.

Retention and backups, handled

Your records live in the cloud, encrypted, and are automatically backed up - meeting the requirement that electronic records be backed up and available in a visible, legible form. Booking history stays on the account, ready for the 3-year look-back.

Inspection day, without the scramble

When the inspector asks who was on site, what they were fed, and where the consent form is - it's a search, not an archaeology dig. Complete, consistent records are also your strongest evidence toward the higher standards behind a 4-5 star rating.

And the data behind it: GDPR

Your customer records are personal data - names, addresses, phone numbers, payment history. UK and EU GDPR make you responsible for keeping that data accurate, secure, and used only for what customers expect.

A paper diary or a spreadsheet on the office PC makes that hard to demonstrate. A system with security built in makes it routine.

1

Encrypted and access-controlled

Customer data is stored with bank-level encryption on Microsoft Azure, behind individual staff logins - not in an unprotected file anyone can copy.

2

Accurate by design

GDPR expects data to be kept up to date. Customers maintain their own contact, pet and vet details through the portal - the person the data is about keeps it accurate.

3

Backed up in real time

Records are backed up automatically, so a stolen laptop or a failed hard drive is an inconvenience - not a data-loss incident you have to report.

4

Card data never touches your systems

Payments run through Stripe, a certified PCI DSS Level 1 provider - card numbers are handled by Stripe, not stored by you, which removes your biggest payment-security risk.

You remain the data controller for your customers' information; KennelBooker provides the tools and safeguards that help you meet your obligations.

Frequently asked questions

What records must a licensed boarding kennel keep under AAL 2018?

DEFRA's statutory guidance requires a register for each dog covering identity (name, age, sex, neuter status, microchip number and breed or description), arrival and departure dates, owner and emergency contact details, a local emergency contact, the dog's normal vet and any insurance, relevant medical and behavioural history, diet, the dates of the most recent vaccination, worming and flea treatments, details of any current medical treatment, and documented owner consents.

How long must boarding records be kept?

Records required as a condition of the licence must be kept for at least 3 years from the date they were created, be available to an inspector in a visible and legible form, and electronic records must be backed up.

Which vaccinations are required for licensed dog boarding?

Dogs must have current vaccinations against canine parvovirus, canine distemper, infectious canine hepatitis (adenovirus) and leptospirosis; kennel cough vaccination may also be required. A primary vaccination course must be completed at least 2 weeks before boarding.

Does using KennelBooker make my kennel AAL and GDPR compliant?

No software makes you compliant by itself - the licence conditions and data-protection obligations sit with your business. What KennelBooker does is maintain the records, registers, consents and security measures those rules require, in one place, so you can demonstrate compliance when your inspector or a customer asks.

Be inspection-ready every day of the year

Run your bookings on KennelBooker and the records keep themselves. Free 14-day trial - no credit card, no contracts.

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