The Carmarthenshire County Council cabinet is scheduled to meet on 13 October 2025 to discuss a new fostering payments framework and a review of dog breeding licensing. The meeting will be held at County Hall, Carmarthen and remotely. Members of the public can watch the meeting via a link on the council's website.

Dog Breeding Licensing Review

The Cabinet will be asked to endorse a report from the Place, Sustainability and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee Task & Finish Group 2024/5, titled A Review of the Dog Breeding Licensing Function of the Consumer and Business Affairs Animal Health Team .

The review was established to explore how the Animal Health Team regulates dog breeding licensing, and to recommend improvements. The Task and Finish group was formed in December 2023, and met between February 2024 and March 2025 to consider evidence.

The report contains five local recommendations and seven national recommendations.

Local recommendations include:

• Undertaking a thorough cost recovery exercise and review of the toolkit used for fee setting. The report notes that the current fees are low compared to the profits that can be made from dog breeding.
• Encouraging local vets to join Buy With Confidence to raise standards and improve consistency of veterinary advice provided to licensed breeders.
• Engaging with media and marketing to ensure the corporate website is up to date and utilising the council's social media channels to highlight emerging issues.
• Exploring options for implementing a compulsory scoring system for Carmarthenshire licensed breeders, akin to the Food Hygiene Rating.
• Submitting a growth bid for an additional Animal Health Officer and/or explore redirecting resources.

National recommendations include:

• Urging the Welsh Government (WG) to review the effectiveness of the regional Animal Licensing Wales (ALW) team.
• Urging WG to review fee setting criteria to consider including a portion of the cost of enforcement of the licensing regime.
• Urging WG to review the scope of legislation and restart review of licensing conditions.
• Urging WG to consider the best way to facilitate a national group for dog breeders.
• Urging WG to consider introducing a centralised microchip database with compulsory, verifiable information requirements similar to the CTS system for cattle.
• Urging WG to review current information sharing arrangements including Animal Licensing Wales, compulsory registration of all puppies born and a single centralised microchip database.
• Urging WG to consider implementing a national scoring system and explore the use of additional enforcement tools for minor breaches of the regulations, such as Fixed Penalty Notices[^2].

The report notes that the team enforces a wide range of legislation, including:

• The Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Wales) Regulations 2014
• The Animal Health Act 1981
• The Animal Welfare (Breeding of Dogs) (Wales) Regulations 2014
• The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activitiesinvolving Animals) (Wales) Regulations 2021
• The Animal Welfare Act 2006
• The Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999
• The Animal Welfare (Breeding of Dogs) (Wales) Regulations 2014,
• The Cattle Identification Regulations 2007
• The Control of Horses (Wales) Act 2014
• The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976
• The Foot and Mouth Disease (Wales) Order 2006
• The Importation of Animals Order 1977
• The Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals Order 2011
• The Pigs (Records, Identification and Movements) Order 2011
• The Rabies (Control) Order 1974
• The Rabies (Importation of Dogs, Cats and Other Mammals) Order 1974
• The Riding Establishment Act 1964
• The Sheep and Goats (Records, Identification and Movement) (Wales) Order 2015
• The Welfare of Animals (Transport) (Wales) Order 2007
• The Welfare of Animals At Markets Order 1990
• The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Wales) Regulations 2014
• The Welfare of Farmed Animals (Wales) Regulations 2007
• The Welfare of Horses at Markets (and other places of sale) Order 1990
• The Zoo Licensing Act 1981

The Task and Finish Group agreed that the work undertaken by the Animal Health team aligns with the following Well-being objectives, as detailed in the County Council's Corporate Strategy 2022-2027:

• Well-being Objective 1: Start Well
• Well-being Objective 2: Live & Age Well
• Well-being Objective 3: Prosperous Communities
• Well-being Objective 4: Our Council

The report details the licensing process, including application submission, assessments undertaken by officers, and remedial works. The application fee must not exceed the reasonable costs of consideration of the application.

The report also notes several challenges face the licensing function, including:

• Resource constraints
• Lengthy and time-consuming case file preparations
• Resistance and non-compliance from breeders
• Conflicts of interest between private vets' professional standards and high revenue from dog breeders
• High costs associated with revoking licenses and dealing with appeals
• Interpretation issues of licensing conditions in court
• The disconnect between breeders who view dogs as commodities and the public's perception of animal welfare
• The legality and ethical considerations of large-scale dog breeding
• The impact of new legislation, such as LAIA Regs (Lucy's Law), which prohibits third-party sales of puppies and kittens
• Delays in Welsh Government review of licensing conditions

The report concludes that while the current staffing levels in Carmarthenshire are insufficient to effectively manage the dog breeding licensing function, it is important to acknowledge the commendable and proactive efforts of the Animal Health team.

Councillor Aled Vaughan Owen, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Decarbonisation and Sustainability, was consulted during the review.

Fostering Payments Framework

The Cabinet will be asked to endorse a new Fostering Payments Framework, which includes a new banding system and sets out the financial and other support provided to foster carers, as well as expectations of carers. The framework focuses on the specific needs of the children in care, and the banding system aims to ensure that carers receive appropriate compensation for the level of care they provide.

The fostering banding system is divided into six categories, each reflecting the varying levels of care required.

The report notes that Foster Wales Carmarthenshire experienced a loss of one third of its foster carer capacity between 2018 and 2022, creating a reliance on external independent fostering agencies and private provider children's homes, which are commissioned at significant cost.

The report states that there is a need to develop an 'offer' that is attractive to prospective fostering families, allowing Carmarthenshire to grow its foster placement capacity. There is also a need to develop an 'offer' that allows the council to retain carers through providing the right level of financial and practical support.

The framework will be introduced from December 2025.

The report notes that there are likely to be in the region of 30 transitional arrangements due to the level of change that will apply to some foster carers with the new model, and would be a temporary further budget pressure in the region of £85,000.

The aim is to move the 59 mainstream carers and 21 connected carers currently not in receipt of enhanced payment onto the new payment framework by 30 November 2025.

The report also notes that connected carers will not receive additional child's needs payments unless they qualify based on the needs of the child for whom they care.

The service aspiration is for the proposed model of payments to be of similar cost to the current allowances in place. For 2024-25 the fostering service budget of £3.8m (which included £400k growth budget) was overspent by £663k, therefore approval of the new payment's framework will require this level of funding to be added to base budgets as part of the 2026/27 budget development process.

The report states that the implementation of the new framework will not have any tax implications for foster carers.

The report also notes that consideration is being given to paid 'respite'. Foster Wales advice is that carers should be paid 2 weeks 'respite' each year. This is comparable to current support offers from independent fostering agencies.

Listening exercises with current carers were facilitated face to face on 21 May 2025 and via teams on 3 June 2025. A mix of 74 mainstream and connected carers attended the events and their feedback has been considered and reflected in the framework where possible. Feedback from professional stakeholders including the fostering service on 19 May 2025 has been incorporated into this framework.

Councillor Jane Tremlett, Cabinet Member for Integrated Health and Children and Adult Social Services, was consulted during the creation of the report.