Fern’s Law: Compulsory to scan & check microchips to reunite stolen dogs, cats.
This petition gathered 112,232 signatures between 4 March 2020 and 4 September 2020, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 2 April 2020. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 28 June 2021.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Fern’s Law: Compulsory to scan & check microchips to reunite stolen dogs, cats.
Many missing microchipped pets are never reunited as it’s optional to scan & check microchip registration. It’s time veterinary professionals, authorities and rescues checked pet & keeper match on the original database at a pets 1st consultation or yearly checkup. It’s their only chance to get home
Vets can play a valuable role in reuniting missing microchipped pets. We have microchipped our pets with the expectation to be reunited if the worst happens and they are lost or stolen. If just one organisation is not committed to scan and check microchip registration the whole system fails and is not fit for purpose. Legislation is needed to replace half hearted ‘strengthened, best practice recommendations’ VetsGetScanning.co.uk
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 2 April 2020; the petitions site lists the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as responsible. Its summary:
BVA and RCVS provide necessary guidance to scan dogs. We will consider reform options including whether this should be mandatory as part of Post Implementation Review of the microchipping regulations.
The response in full:
It is a legal requirement for all owners to microchip their dogs, and to enter the details onto a database. British Veterinary Association (BVA) best practice is that vets should scan dogs on first presentation at their practice, and at other regular intervals including prior to euthanasia, where euthanasia is deemed the appropriate course of action by the veterinary expert. BVA’s website sets out their position on scanning: https://www.bva.co.uk/News-campaigns-and-policy/Policy/Companion-animals/Microchipping/
The guidance includes advice on what a vet should do if the details of the person presenting the dog are different to what is recorded on the database, and what to do when stray or lost animals are brought to the practice by checking the microchipping databases in order to reunite the animal with their owner.
The Government considers that advice from BVA and RCVS (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) provides veterinary professionals with helpful guidance on conducting appropriate scanning and to protect the welfare of dogs. Ministers will continue to emphasise the importance of vets scanning pet animals when they are first presented to their surgery.
Since 6 April 2016, all dogs in England and Wales must be microchipped and registered on an approved database by the time they are eight weeks’ old. Since we made microchipping compulsory, the number of dogs microchipped has gone up from around 58% of all dogs in 2013 to over 90% of all dogs. This means that about 8.5 million dogs in the United Kingdom are microchipped. We also advise cat owners to get their cat microchipped and it was a manifesto commitment to introduce compulsory microchipping for cats. As part of this commitment we recently completed a Call For Evidence on cat microchipping which attracted over 3,000 responses. We are in the process of analysing the responses and will publish a summary of the responses together with a way forward in due course.
The Government is also considering proposals for the scanning of dogs by vets as part of the ongoing Post Implementation Review of The Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations 2015.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 382, came from Chorley.
111,347 of the signatures were from the UK and 885 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Chorley | 382 |
| Isle of Wight | 375 |
| Shrewsbury and Atcham | 366 |
| St Austell and Newquay | 366 |
| Windsor | 352 |
| South Northamptonshire | 341 |
| Maidenhead | 331 |
| Wells | 331 |
| Hastings and Rye | 328 |
| North Cornwall | 328 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 19,665 |
| South West | 12,948 |
| North West | 12,402 |
| East of England | 12,130 |
| West Midlands | 9,758 |
| East Midlands | 8,189 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 7,879 |
| Scotland | 7,652 |
| London | 7,158 |
| Wales | 5,522 |
| North East | 4,885 |
| Northern Ireland | 772 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 28 June 2021. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/300010.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
5eee9e77741b4887… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.