Star rating distribution
How council-issued star ratings are distributed across licensed dog boarding operators. Ratings are issued by local authorities under the Animal Activities Licensing regulations.
Data populating
The star rating distribution table builds as council licensing registers are processed. See our licensing coverage page for which councils are currently included.
What star ratings are
Under the Animal Activities Licensing (AAL) regulations introduced in England in 2018, local councils inspect and licence dog boarding operators. Each licensed operator is awarded a star rating from 1 to 5, based on their inspection score across categories including environment, staffing, and animal welfare procedures.
A 5-star rating indicates the highest standard. A 1-star rating means the operator meets minimum legal requirements only. Councils must publish their licence registers, which we collect and aggregate.
Methodology
We aggregate star ratings from council licensing registers. Each operator's most recent rating is used; previous ratings are not averaged. Operators without a published star rating (some older licences predate the rating system) are excluded from distribution calculations.
Limitations
- Coverage is limited to councils whose registers we currently collect — see the licensing coverage page.
- Scotland and Wales use different licensing frameworks; star ratings may not be directly comparable across nations.
- Councils inspect on different schedules — some ratings may be up to 3 years old.
- Home boarders and kennel operators are rated on different criteria in some councils.
Attribution
Star rating data is sourced from council licensing registers under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Download
CSV download available once data pipeline reaches minimum sample sizes. Contact us for early access.