According to a new report released by the RSPCA today, an annual dog licence fee of as little as £21.50 could help reduce the number of strays and help tackle irresponsible dog breeding.

Less than a chocolate bar

Owners would face a cost of less than 42p a week per dog – less than the price of an average chocolate bar – in order to provide huge improvements to dog welfare and dog control services. The report reveals a dog licensing scheme could deliver resources to improve dog welfare worth in excess of £107.4 million.

The report's recommendations

The new report - Improving dog ownership: The economic case for dog licensing - was written by RSPCA director of communications, David Bowles, and is based on research by Reading University, which was commissioned by the Society.

It makes three recommendations in its conclusion.

• The government should establish a dog health and welfare strategy underpinned and funded by a dog licence scheme. This would fund resources to tackle the issues, such as strays, injuries caused by dog bites, and the prevention of disease.

• The dog licensing scheme could be set at £20-£30 per dog annually, with discounts for selected dogs (e.g. assistance dogs, neutered dogs) and people (e.g. pensioners).

• Microchips would be used to identify the dogs, with details entered on a national database, improving dog ownership and reducing numbers of unwanted dogs.

David Bowles said: "A dog licensing scheme would raise money which could be targeted into improving enforcement of laws at a local level, improve the welfare of dogs, and reverse the use of certain breeds of dogs as a status symbol or weapon."

Licenses would achieve three goals

He says the dog licence would achieve three important goals. It would:

• Raise money for dog welfare.

• Increase the numbers of responsible dog owners by getting people to think before they get a dog.

• Start to reverse the surplus of dogs on the market by providing incentives, such as reduced fees for neutering dogs.

David said: "The RSPCA believes that Britain has slipped behind other countries which have started to tackle and solve the problems of dog over supply, and only the introduction of a dog licensing scheme could ensure we catch up. In countries which have a dog licence it is seen not as a tax, but as an important part of owning a dog. In Britain we know that a dog licence is welcomed by two out of every three dog owners, more than 70 per cent of whom are happy to pay more than £30 for the pleasure and responsibility of owning a dog."