Animal Services
Case reference FOI2026/01352
Received 2 July 2026
Published 27 July 2026
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to make the following request for information relating to the animal services provided by your local authority.
Dog Warden Service
1. Does the local authority employ a dog warden or outsource the role? If the role is outsourced, who is responsible?
2. What has been the local authority’s annual spend on the dog warden service for the last three years? Either for inhouse or outsourcing the role.
2023
2024
2025
Dog bites on authority workers
1. Does the local authority have a documented standard operating procedure or policy regarding dog safety for workers visiting private property in the course of their employment?
o Please include both workers employed directly by the local authority and workers contracted to work on the authority’s behalf, for eg including, but not limited to, refuse collectors, social workers, housing officers etc.
2. How many instances of dog bites were reported to RIDDOR (https://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/) in the last three years by the local authority?
o Please indicate whether your available data separates workers from members of the public. If it does, please supply the two figures separately.
2023
2024
2025
Response
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
Please find the answers to your queries below:
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to make the following request for information relating to the animal services provided by your local authority.
Dog Warden Service
1. Does the local authority employ a dog warden or outsource the role? If the role is outsourced, who is responsible?
Yes, we outsource this role to SDK Environmental Ltd.
2. What has been the local authority’s annual spend on the dog warden service for the last three years? Either for inhouse or outsourcing the role.
2023
2024
2025
The contract value is £75,600 over a three year period, from 1st August 2023 to 1st August 2026 – this equates to £25,200 per year.
Please note that the above information is published in our Contractor’s Register on our website and can be found via the following link:
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/DoingbusinesswithGBC
Dog bites on authority workers
1. Does the local authority have a documented standard operating procedure or policy regarding dog safety for workers visiting private property in the course of their employment?
o Please include both workers employed directly by the local authority and workers contracted to work on the authority’s behalf, for eg including, but not limited to, refuse collectors, social workers, housing officers etc.
There is no documented policy. Individual services use risk assessment to cover this hazard.
2. How many instances of dog bites were reported to RIDDOR (https://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/) in the last three years by the local authority?
o Please indicate whether your available data separates workers from members of the public. If it does, please supply the two figures separately.
2023 – zero.
2024 – zero.
2025 – zero.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Guildford Borough Council
Documents
This is Guildford Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.