More than 150 food and farming organisations have asked the UK government for lighter regulation and targeted funding to stop small abattoirs closing, Farmers Weekly reported. The Abattoir Sector Group set out its demands in a letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, calling for a review of regulatory and charging arrangements.
The coalition says the UK has lost more than nine in ten abattoirs since the 1970s, from about 2,500 to about 200. Smaller businesses have suffered most, though they provide services such as private killing, cutting and packing that larger processors often do not, and that let farmers sell meat directly to consumers, butchers and farm shops.
A 2025 survey by the Sustainable Food Trust, the Soil Association and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust of 850 farmers and land managers found that two-thirds had struggled to get suitable abattoir services in the previous five years and one-third had seen an abattoir they used close. If their current abattoir shut, 43% said they could no longer sell meat locally and 29% said they might have to close their meat business.
The group wants local and regional abattoirs recognised as essential infrastructure, a funding scheme to help communities find gaps in slaughter provision and build viable facilities, and solutions such as co-operatives, mobile units and public-private partnerships. It says capital grants such as England's £4m Smaller Abattoir Fund of 2023 cannot fix an operating model it considers financially unsustainable. "You cannot have British meat without the infrastructure to process it," said chairman Christopher Price.
In East Sussex, Anna Zielicka-Hardy, who keeps about 400 native-breed sheep at Rette Farm, lost the abattoir ten minutes from her farm and faces a two-month waiting list at another. Taking five sheep to the next nearest abattoir and collecting the meat means about six hours on the road. She is exploring a regulated on-farm slaughter model with partners, which she estimates could save about £100 a batch in feed and transport. "Every animal deserves a good life and a good death. Every farmer deserves the means to provide both," she said.
Source: Farmers Weekly
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