The Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss, has today called on all horse, pony and donkey owners in England to get their animals microchipped ahead of 1 October 2020 as part of a move to tackle horse theft, improve equine traceability and improve animal welfare.

From this date it will be mandatory in England for all equine owners to microchip their animals. The Central Equine Database will mean local authorities and the police can track down owners who abandon their horses, donkeys and ponies, helping to improve animal welfare standards, while also helping prevent horse theft.

Compulsory microchipping will also mean lost or stolen horses can be reunited with their owners more easily. In 2019, the RSPCA received more than 21,000 reports to its cruelty hotline and took 875 horses into care. Around 70% of these were not microchipped, making it difficult for the organisation to trace owners and to hold anyone responsible for the cruelty the animals had faced.

Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss said:

As we have seen with cats and dogs, mandatory microchipping is a hugely important step forward in the speedy identification of abandoned or stolen animals.

Microchipping will not only help the police and local authorities, but also support the UK’s efforts to improve traceability and ensure we have better control over any disease outbreaks. This new legislation will also ensure that irresponsible owners are rightly held accountable for any low standards of welfare.

RSPCA equine expert Dr Mark Kennedy said:

We’re delighted that it will soon be compulsory for horses of all ages in England to be microchipped, linking each horse directly to an owner. We believe this will go some way towards helping to identify irresponsible owners who abandon or neglect their horses; as well as helping to reunite owners with missing or stolen equines.

All too frequently our officers encounter abandoned and neglected horses who are often sick, dying or even dead. Equine welfare charities collectively estimate there are 7,000 horses at risk of poor welfare in England and Wales alone and, with the economic fallout of Covid-19, we’re extremely concerned that many more will fall into situations of neglect, abandonment and suffering this winter.

Owners are legally required to make sure that their animals’ details are up-to-date on the Central Equine Database. This can be accessed online via the Digital Stable and holds information on all horses in England (as well as other parts of the UK) so owners can be reunited if their animal were to ever go missing.

If equine owners do not microchip their animals by October 2020 they could face sanctions from their local authority including a fine.

Our social impact programme SiX, social impact, multiplied was launched last week and the first investment was Transforming West Cumbria.

Transforming West Cumbria, has been developed by Cumbria Community Foundation, and focuses on promoting thriving communities by supporting sustainable activities that create self-reliance and independence.

Part of that programme, is the Family Wellbeing Scheme which will give cash grants of up to £50,000 a year for 3 years to projects that improve the health and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families in West Cumbria by:

• encouraging a whole-family approach, supporting parents and families to engage and actively support their children’s development
• supporting children to build emotional resilience, particularly at critical transition points in their lives
• acknowledging the importance of early years (0-5 years) interventions and the need for intensive family centred support

Charitable groups and partnerships supporting vulnerable children and young families in West Cumbria are being encouraged to apply for funding.

The scheme is part of wider £2.2 million investment that Sellafield Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will be injecting into local communities over the next 3 years.

Gary McKeating, Sellafield Ltd’s head of community and development, said:

I am delighted that we are able to make quick progress on delivering Transforming West Cumbria.

The fact that we can award grants so quickly is a testament to Cumbria Community Foundation’s commitment to the programme.

There are many amazing charities that are doing vital work with some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

I’d encourage them all to look at how the Family Wellbeing might be able to help them support even more people, or make their work more sustainable, and get their grant applications in as quickly as possible.

Annalee Holliday, grants and donor services officer at Cumbria Community Foundation, said:

We recognise that to really transform children’s life chances, they need sustained interventions that meet the diversity of their needs and that participation and co-production must be a key component of any service.

Children and families in West Cumbria are supported by many charities to improve their lives so that they reach their full potential. These groups are part of the community, trusted by families and can make a real difference, providing help and hope.

Family Wellbeing will address a need for more support to work with parents and families to establish stability in the lives of children and achieve lasting positive outcomes.

Farmers in England are set to benefit from a reduced administrative burden next year, as the government plans to end the need to comply with the EU-delivered so-called greening requirements and begin the move towards our new Environmental Land Management scheme, which will deliver greater benefits for the environment.

The European Commission’s so-called greening requirements for Direct Payments have required farmers to carry out specified practices in order to qualify for additional payments. These requirements have historically delivered little for the environment, as was documented in the European Court of Auditors 2017 Special Report on greening.

Under government plans to simplify the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and cut red tape faced by farmers during the agricultural transition period, farmers will have a reduced administrative burden and will no longer have to comply with the so called greening requirements with effect from the 2021 scheme year.

These changes will not affect the overall payment received by each farmer as the money will instead be added to farmers’ entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme.

The agricultural transition period will last for seven years and see Direct Payments to farmers in England phased out and replaced with a new system that rewards farmers for delivering public goods, such as tree or hedge planting, river management to mitigate flooding, and creating or restoring habitats for wildlife. The new Environmental Land Management scheme, expected to be rolled out in late 2024, will introduce new ways of working together with farmers to deliver better environmental outcomes and reverse the decline of some of our most cherished species.

Environment Secretary, George Eustice, said:

The so-called greening requirements have added little to our environmental efforts. We believe that farmers will benefit from this reduced bureaucratic burden next year as we begin the move towards our new Environmental Land Management scheme which will deliver greater benefits for the environment.

We will be setting out more detail in the autumn on how we will ensure a smooth transition for our farmers, as they move towards our new, fairer agricultural system, which will reward them for the hard work that they do to protect our environment.

The planned phasing out of Direct Payments will take place gradually to give farmers the time to adapt to the changes. In the majority of cases, the gradual reduction in these payments will be offset by alternative support being made available to help farmers improve their productivity and aid their transition into the new Environmental Land Management scheme.

Farmers will also continue to be able to apply to Countryside Stewardship schemes until the future scheme is rolled out.

The national conversation around the future Environmental Land Management scheme is open until July 31, with farmers warmly invited to share their views on a policy discussion document available on CitizenSpace.

Further details on plans for the agricultural transition period will be set out in Autumn 2020.