What a vet needs to do on a review and follow-up
Source: gov.uk (2025-06-26)

Farmers should send this guidance to their vet, so they can see what to do on a review or follow-up. This guidance includes details of testing, how to advise, and what information to provide.

This service is called ‘Get funding to improve animal health and welfare’. It forms part of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway. It’s designed to help farmers:
- test for endemic diseases and conditions
- increase animal productivity
- improve animal welfare
There are 2 parts to the service:
- animal health and welfare review
- endemic disease follow-up
A follow-up can only be done after a review. It should be on the same species and herd or flock that had the review. For the farmer to be eligible to claim funding, they must follow the rules for when to have a review or a follow up. You can read about when to have a review (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-an-animal-health-and-welfare-review) and when to have a follow-up. (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-when-to-have-an-endemic-disease-follow-up)

Reviews and follow-ups are not inspections or audits.

Who can claim

A farmer is eligible to claim if they keep any of the following per herd or flock:
- 11 or more beef cattle
- 11 or more dairy cattle
- 21 or more sheep
- 51 or more pigs
Arrange a review or follow-up

The farmer will contact you to arrange a review or follow-up.

Review and follow-ups do not have a set time, but they typically take between 2 and 3 hours.

The farmer can agree with you to do a review or follow-up either:
- over several visits to the farm
- in a single visit
What a farmer will ask you to do

The farmer will ask you to follow the steps in the review guidance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/farmers-and-vets-what-happens-on-an-animal-health-and-welfare-review) or follow-up guidance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/farmers-and-vets-what-happens-on-an-endemic-disease-follow-up).

Required actions

The vet guidance has information on:
- testing and specifications a laboratory needs to meet
- what you need to include in a summary and written report
- how to confirm a herd with our ‘Tell us about a herd or flock’ section of the form
You can read the vet guidance for:

Cattle testing required for an animal health and welfare review and endemic disease follow-up (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cattle-testing-required-for-an-animal-health-and-welfare-review-and-endemic-disease-follow-up)

Pig testing required for an animal health and welfare review and endemic disease follow-up (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pigs-testing-required-for-an-annual-health-and-welfare-review-and-endemic-disease-follow-up)

Sheep testing required for an animal health and welfare review and endemic disease follow-up (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sheep-testing-required-for-an-annual-health-and-welfare-review-and-endemic-disease-follow-up)

Vet templates

There are blank vet summary templates your vet can use to:
- confirm the details of the herd
- provide the information about the visit, so the farmer can make a claim
Vet summary templates for all species (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vet-summary-templates-for-all-species)

Other schemes

The farmer cannot use other accreditation scheme test results for this funding.

They can use the review or follow-up test results for other accreditation schemes they’re a member of. They should also check with the accreditation scheme that they’ll accept testing from the review or follow-up.

Funding to improve animal health and welfare: guidance for farmers and vets (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/funding-to-improve-animal-health-and-welfare-guidance-for-farmers-and-vets)