Hello and a warm welcome to you.

Thank you for choosing to become a member of The UK Alliance of Catteries and Kennels.

You are joining at the beginning of our journey together and our wish is for all our members to feel included, to know there is support and that we are stronger together. To notify us is the first step to us implementing solutions.

Our initial vision in March 2021 was to gain recognition of our industry from the Government to access Covid-19 tourism / accommodation grants. By April we were informed to seek parity from local councils Covid-19 funds. You may have joined us in sending letters to MPs, Rishi Sunak and then to Chief Executives and Portfolio Holders regarding this? While obtaining grants was the pressing issue we also found, from a wide range of case studies, phone calls and messages that there were other inconsistencies such as disparity with star ratings, licence regulations interpretation, licence fee was not harmonised, VAT, our association with Defra and more – our industry was seemingly overlooked, ignored, pushed out and disregarded from all angles.

By May 2021 we had a small idea. Could we take these other issues and support our fellow businesses to pull our industry into the new age of commerce? Could we continue to fight for parity? Could we continue to seek answers we wanted? Could we even be in a position to say, ‘no’ to Government changes if our members do not agree when another regulation is placed upon us? We needed a UK recognised body for our industry so we could be heard. This is our answer, The UK Alliance of Catteries and Kennels.

Who are we? We are Craig and Claire Dodding of Rhoden Manor Cattery in Lancashire and Sara White of Capton Cattery near Williton in West Somerset. A mere chance of both commenting on a social media post brought Sara and Claire together and in a short space of time they were attending meetings with Sir Lindsay Hoyle (Speaker of the House), Paul Scully (under-secretary of BEIS), bombarding Cabinet ministers and Defra ministers with letters concerning our exclusions. Save Our Industry was formed – a social media platform to bring us together, to discuss, to listen and to save our industries from collapse and now, this, our new Alliance with the backbone of our legal team at Bank View Solicitors. Already we have achieved grants for businesses that were declined, and we are actively saving owners from closure. We have saved businesses and families. Already we have made MPs listen and have started the journey of industry code reclassification. Already we are in discussions with relevant bodies concerning our Defra umbrella. Already we have incredible support and recognition in the right places.

What do we plan to do in the future? Please peruse your welcome pack for our initial vision over the next decade. This is just the start of our commitment to you, our members. We will have hurdles to climb; we will have successes and we will move forward for the benefit of you, our members, so you can continue to run your cattery and/or kennel knowing you have us to smooth the journey ahead and to combat future difficulties.

We know this industry. We have worked the 7 days as well. We know the hard work that goes into each single day from early morning to the night run. 365 days a year. We know. We understand. We are here to make a difference so you can keep doing what you have chosen to do for many more years to come.

We hope you will feel able to let us know of any concerns, issues, annoyances from licensing to policies and staffing – to tell us is the first step. Together we will seek changes, offer support, and create strategies which will benefit you and others – stronger together. We will always have this industry’s welfare as our highest concern.

We are immensely proud to confirm that already we have secured member only deals with our affiliates; Pet Business Insurance, Mortgages for Business, Bank View Solicitors, Duce Chartered Certified Accountants, Perform-Online, Revelation Pets; enjoy the use of these services and save money while doing so. You will notice we have also included an element of wellbeing for yourself as well as your business. We know how hard you are working and what difficulties we have faced since March 2020. We want to help take care of you as well as your business.

Each month our private social media group will include a ‘member topic’ to move our industry forward and sustain our business’s. We will be incorporating podcasts and interviews…it’s all extremely exciting and very interactive for us all! This a safe space to express your views and ask for help with no judgement.

As of October 14^th 2021 business membership was granted to The UK Alliance of Catteries and Kennels via the Conservative Party. What does this mean for your Alliance going forward?

– We will benefit from weekly Conservative business briefings every Friday. This will give us a weekly one to one to voice our concerns regarding our industry and actually work together to create and succeed with a strategy for all of us

–  We will submit our industry concerns via The Business Sentiment Index Tracker every quarter not only to address these but to actually be heard and to succeed with action for the issues in our industry

– We will attend a monthly conference briefing call with the Conservative Research Department to ask questions direct on our industries behalf to seek resolution and to communicate with relevant decision makers. This is also an opportunity to seek resolution for any present issue or as issues occur

–  UK Alliance will hold priority to UK wide to Conservative speeches and business / industry Q&A featuring a full variety of governing bodies and senior members of the party, including DEFRA.

This is a huge benefit to us and will help us progress far quicker. To be interlinked with the people actually making decisions (rightly or wrongly) for our industry is a game changer and we could not be any prouder.

This is not a political decision, the party is irrelevant; to keep the pace we have set we must be interlinked to be heard. The decision was purely based on a totally new angle, never done before, to correct the many issues within our industry and to successfully provide the best service and representation for you, our members.

Along with this we have a stronghold of MPs led by Sara Britcliffe and, of course, Sir Lindsay Hoyles advice. As you will know we have already opened ministerial communication with DEFRA in July via our MP, Sara Britcliffe.

So, thank you for becoming a member of The UK Alliance of Catteries and Kennels.

Together is stronger and we are stronger together.