Today (12 January), the UK Government has launched two public consultations – one on phasing out cages for laying hens by 2032 and a second on updating the Sheep Welfare Code with the aim of minimising pain during lamb castration and tail docking.

We welcome this news, which is a huge step towards raising welfare standards for lambs and finally improving the lives of millions of hens suffering in cruel caged systems every year in the UK.

Relentless campaigning to End the Cage Age

Every year in the UK, around 7 million laying hens spend their lives imprisoned in so-called ‘enriched’ cages where they have around the space of a sheet of A4 paper each. These cruel outdated systems are still legal in the UK, despite the fact that 75% of the British public think cages are cruel.

Over the years, we’ve had many influential moments, including three Parliamentary debates triggered by petitions on this issue that all received over 100,000 signatures, and numerous Parliamentary receptions to rally cross-party MP support to End the Cage Age. We have also worked with food companies to support their transition away from caged systems.

At the end of 2025, Defra released its Animal Welfare Strategy. This signalled their intention to end the use of cages for laying hens – something we celebrated as a positive development after decades of relentless campaigning by our supporters. It is encouraging that the momentum for a ban continues with the launch of this consultation, but we would like to see a faster phaseout.

The beginning of the end

Anthony Field, Head of our UK office, said:

We welcome the UK Government’s leadership in delivering on a key commitment in its Animal Welfare Strategy by rapidly consulting on phasing out the use cages for laying hens. This is a huge step forward for farmed animals and could be the beginning of the end for caged framing!

We will be responding to the consultation and pressing the Government to adopt a more ambitious timeline for phasing out these cruel systems. We hope this consultation will result in real progress in our hard-fought campaign to ban cages for millions of hens confined behind bars. Cages are cruel, outdated and just plain wrong! It’s time to end the suffering once and for all. It’s time to End the Cage Age.

A move away from sheep mutilation

Sheep mutilation practices like castration and tail docking cause significant suffering. To improve lamb welfare, farmers will be required to minimise pain whenever these procedures are carried out, including greater use of pain relief and exploring accessible alternatives. These changes are grounded in the latest scientific evidence and follow advice from the independent Animal Welfare Committee.

Anthony continued:

We also welcome the launch of a consultation to improve the welfare of lambs. Lambs are routinely subjected to painful, unnecessary mutilations. Castration and tail docking are usually carried out without anaesthetic or pain relief, causing great suffering, so this is any extremely positive move.

Stay tuned

We stand ready to work with the Government to turn their commitments into real policy change and are preparing our submission in response to these consultations.

Stay tuned for when we ask you to submit your response to the consultation to help End the Cage Age!

A UK ban on cages for laying hens in sight