Standard Operating Procedures are designed to be shared with members and new member applicants in the interests of transparency.

Key definitions:

SAWC: ADCH’s Standards and Animal Welfare Committee, which has delegated authority from the Trustees to make recommendations to Trustees on Standards.

Procedure:

1. Introduction

1.1 The ADCH Minimum Welfare and Operational Standards were developed and approved by Trustees and Members. They form the basis of ADCH’s requirement of Members to meet a set of Minimum Welfare and Operational Standards that:

• safeguard animal welfare;
• safeguard the reputation of the member organisations, ADCH and the sector at large;
• are proportionate and realistically achievable.

1.2 It is essential, as a condition of membership, that all Members engage with the Minimum Welfare and Operational Standards assessment process and commit to remedy areas of less than full compliance.

1.3 SAWC’s responsibilities includes making recommendations to the Board of Trustees on the ADCH Minimum Welfare and Operational Standards, for example the levels of minimum standards and any revisions. Minor revisions (such as to clarify the intention behind an existing standard) may be made by the Committee without Board approval.

1.4 This SOP sets out how SAWC discharges that responsibility

2. Procedure

2.1 SAWC keeps a running log of topics that potentially , such as;

• Updating existing standards
• Creation of new Standards
• Deletion of existing Standards.

2.2 ADCH Standards are informed by:

• The experience of Members
• The experience of Assessors during assessments of members and applicants
• Experience and feedback for SAWC, especially from their review of all assessments
• Scientific developments
• Legislative developments
• Reported widespread changes to the operating models of rehoming organisations
• Any necessary clarification of Standards (for example where there are frequent queries over the intention behind the wording)
• Any other relevant factor

2.3 SAWC will carry out a review to assess whether a revision exercise is needed. This review shall be no later than 2 years since the latest revision, and annually thereafter if no revision was undertaken at the latest review.

2.4 SAWC will make its decision on when to carry out a revision, based on all relevant factors. When legislative changes are involved, this can increase the priority in order to achieve alignment.

2.5 SAWC will organise the work to prepare a proposed set of revisions as it sees fit.

2.6 SAWC will put out a consultation to all Full Members giving details of proposed revisions, allowing sufficient time to reply reflecting the complexity of the proposed changes.

2.7 SAWC will consider the responses from the consultation, and will decide how and where to make amendments.

2.8 SAWC will present its recommendations to Trustees for approval.

2.9 Once approved, SAWC will publish the result to members, giving sufficient time to implement changes reflecting the complexity of the proposed changes. At its discretion SAWC can set different implementation dates for different standards.

2.10 SAWC will publish the new standards, including implementation dates.

Further Guidance:

Further guidance can be obtained from ADCH staff ([email protected])