Poultry Biosecurity Review funding: guidance for poultry keepers and vets

Poultry keepers can get funding for 3 biosecurity reviews at each of their sites. Each site must hold a minimum number of chickens, ducks, geese or turkeys.

From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Rural Payments Agency and Animal and Plant Health Agency Published: 2 June 2026

Applies to England

How the scheme works

The Poultry Biosecurity Review (PBR) scheme forms part of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway.

Animal health and welfare review funding is also available for cattle, pig and sheep farmers.

If you’re a poultry keeper, these are the steps you need to take:

1. Apply for an agreement Use this guidance to check that you can apply for a PBR agreement. Each single business identifier (SBI) will have one agreement, which can include:

   • any eligible species
   • multiple poultry sites You should read the terms and conditions before you apply. Applications close on 30 September 2028.

2. Arrange a biosecurity review with a vet You can only arrange a review when your PBR agreement is in place. You can choose the vet you use. If you’re a poultry keeper who is a vet, you cannot carry out your own reviews. Reviews must be completed by 31 December 2028.

3. Claim funding You can claim £430 for each review. The vet needs to fill in a PBR vet summary sheet before you can make a claim. You’ll be asked to provide the information from the summary when claiming. Funding is available until the scheme closes on 31 March 2029.

Who can apply

You’re eligible for funded biosecurity reviews if you keep any of the following:

• 1,000 or more chickens (breeders, broilers, egg layers and pullets)
• 500 or more ducks
• 500 or more geese
• 500 or more turkeys

Species numbers cannot be combined, for example 200 ducks and 300 turkeys. You do not need to be the owner of the birds. You can apply if:

• your business has an SBI linked to county parish holding (CPH) numbers registered in England
• your poultry site is registered in England

How many claims you can make

You can organise reviews for any of your sites when you have a PBR agreement in place. Each site must be in a separate CPH. You can arrange another review for a site if a minimum of 10 months has passed since the site was last reviewed. You can claim for a maximum of 3 reviews on each site. £430 can be claimed for each review. All reviews must be completed by 31 December 2028.

Apply or claim funding

Use the ‘Get funding to improve animal health and welfare’ service to:

• apply for a PBR agreement
• make a claim, using the information from the vet’s summary

Once you have an agreement in place, £430 can be claimed for each review. You’ll need your Rural Payments service customer reference number (CRN) and password to sign in. Start now

What a vet needs to do on a review

A review is complete when the vet has:

• done a biosecurity assessment
• downloaded and filled in a PBR vet summary sheet
• written a report of the assessment and recommended actions

The poultry keeper must be responsible for the welfare of the birds when the vet does a review. A review can take place even if the site is empty.

Before a biosecurity assessment

When planning a visit, the vet should take into account any relevant avian influenza prevention zones (AIPZs) or disease control zones. Up-to-date information can be found on the latest bird flu situation in England.

During a biosecurity assessment

The vet’s assessment should include:

• infrastructure and location
• organisation of site and supply of materials
• visitors, personnel and hygiene locks
• buying in poultry
• depopulation and off-farm movement of birds
• transportation and management of eggs
• feed and water supply
• manure and carcass removal
• disease management
• cleaning and disinfection
• measures between compartments and houses

Vets can use free online tools to help with assessments, such as biocheck.ugent and the British Poultry Council’s biosecurity photobook.

If the site is empty, the vet must assess its capacity to hold the minimum number of relevant poultry. Stocking densities are based on the following codes of practice for:

• chickens, ducks and turkeys
• geese

After a biosecurity assessment

After the vet has assessed the site, they need to give the poultry keeper 2 separate documents:

1. A PBR vet summary, using the sheet provided The vet must download and fill in a PBR vet summary sheet. The details given in the vet’s summary will be used to make a claim. A claim may not be successful if information is missing or the form has been incorrectly filled in. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) may ask to be sent the vet summary when processing a claim.

2. A written report The vet must also give the poultry keeper a written report of their assessment, which includes any recommended actions. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the RPA will not ask to see the written report.

Contact us

Contact the RPA if you cannot apply online or have a question about your application or claim. You can scan and attach documents in an email and send them to us. Or you can post them to our address. You should:

• use ‘IAHW – PBR’ in the email subject heading
• put your SBI and PBR agreement number on everything you send to us

Write to: Rural Payments Agency PO Box 352 Worksop S80 9FG Email: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk Telephone: 03000 200 301 – Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, except public holidays Find out about call charges

Updates to this page

Published 2 June 2026

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