Disqualification Order

Disqualification orders in the animal welfare context are made under section 34 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Where a person is convicted of one of the specified offences (which the section lists as offences under sections 4, 5, 6(1) and (2), 7, 8, 9 and 13(6), covering matters such as causing unnecessary suffering and failing to meet an animal's welfare needs), the sentencing court may — instead of, or in addition to, any other sentence — make an order disqualifying the offender "under any one or more of subsections (2) to (4) for such period as it thinks fit". This gives the court considerable flexibility: disqualification can be for a fixed period or effectively open-ended, and can be tailored to the offence rather than being a blanket, one-size-fits-all ban.

The order can bite on different aspects of an offender's relationship with animals. Disqualification under subsection (2) prevents the person from owning animals, keeping animals, participating in the keeping of animals, or being "party to an arrangement under which he is entitled to control or influence the way in which animals are kept" — closing an obvious loophole where a disqualified person might otherwise simply have a partner or associate keep animals on their behalf. Separate disqualification under subsection (3) covers dealing in animals, and under subsection (4) covers transporting animals or arranging for their transport; the court can impose these individually, in combination, and can limit any of them to animals generally or to one or more particular kinds of animal. A court that declines to make a disqualification order after a qualifying conviction must give its reasons in open court, and breaching a disqualification order is itself a further criminal offence.