Guidance

Contact Defra

Information to help you answer your query before you contact us.

Before contacting us you should check to see if we’ve already published information to answer your query. We often get enquiries about the following topics:

Animal health and welfare

Find out about:

Practical support

Topic Email Contact number
To report suspicion of a notifiable disease in your animals (for example, bird flu)   03000 200 301
General animal welfare enquiries (England) customeradvice@apha.gov.uk 03000 200 301
General animal welfare enquiries (Wales) apha.cymruwales@apha.gov.uk 0300 303 8268
General animal welfare enquiries (Scotland): contact your local Field Services Office    
Animal welfare in transport enquiries wit@apha.gov.uk 03000 200 301
Exporting or moving animals and animal products (where an export health certificate is needed) to the EU, Northern Ireland and non-EU countries from Great Britain, and imports of live animals exports@apha.gov.uk 0300 020 0301
Exporting or moving livestock to the EU, Northern Ireland and non-EU countries from Great Britain LivestockExports@apha.gov.uk 0300 020 0301
Moving horses and other equine animals between UK and EU member states or between Great Britain and Northern Ireland EquineExportsCarlisle@apha.gov.uk 0300 020 0301
Trading or moving endangered animals or plants listed under CITES wildlife.licensing@apha.gov.uk 0300 020 0301
Exporting or moving live aquatic animals (fish, shellfish and crustaceans) for aquaculture and ornamental purposes (where an export health certificate is needed) to the EU, Northern Ireland and non-EU countries from Great Britain, and import of live aquatic animals fhi@cefas.co.uk 01305 206700
Veterinary medicines authorisations and regulations postmaster@vmd.gov.uk 01932 336911

Pet travel

Find out about:

General enquiries

  • Pet Travel Scheme helpline: 0370 241 1710 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm)
  • email: pettravel@apha.gov.uk

Environment

Report:

Find out more about:

Guidance

Practical support

Topic Email Contact number
Environmental permitting, industry and waste, water quality and resources, inland fisheries, navigation, conservation and ecology, and regulations for nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs), soil, silage and slurry enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk 03708 506506
Chemicals and pesticides   0330 159 1985

Farming and food

Find out about:

Defra Rural Service

  • Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) scheme helpline covering legacy schemes, Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS), and Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) queries and transaction support
  • call: 03000 200 301 (Monday - Friday, 8:30am to 5pm)

Practical support

Topic Email Contact number
Exporting or moving animals and animal products (where an export health certificate is needed) to the EU, Northern Ireland and non-EU countries from Great Britain, and imports of live animals exports@apha.gov.uk 0300 020 0301
Exporting or moving livestock to the EU, Northern Ireland and non-EU countries from Great Britain LivestockExports@apha.gov.uk 0300 020 0301
Moving horses and other equine animals between UK and EU member states and between Great Britain and Northern Ireland EquineExportsCarlisle@apha.gov.uk 0300 020 0301
Exporting or moving plants, plant products and seeds to the EU, Northern Ireland and non-EU countries from Great Britain, and importing plants, plant products and seeds to Great Britain planthealth.info@apha.gov.uk 0300 1000 313
Pesticides including queries regarding potential residues in food and crop spraying contact Health and Safety Executive 0345 933 5577
Environmental protection farming related enquiries enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk 0300 060 3900
Food safety and hygiene, including imports of high risk food and feed helpline@food.gov.uk 020 7276 8829
For all enquiries relating to Bovine TB tb.advice@apha.gov.uk 03000 200 301

Fisheries

Find out about:

Practical support

Topic Email Contact number
Protecting the marine environment, licences, regulation, marine control and enforcement info@marinemanagement.org.uk 0300 123 1032
Fish export helpline   0300 1591 989

Flooding

Find out about:

Floodline

  • call: 0345 988 1188 (24 hour service)
  • type talk: 0345 602 6340 (for the hard of hearing)

Wildlife, countryside and rural

Find out about:

Practical support

Topic Email Contact number
Wood, wood products and isolated bark import and export and associated plant health requirements plant.health@forestrycommission.gov.uk 0300 067 5155
Other woodland questions, woodland management, and recreation nationalenquiries@forestrycommission.gov.uk 0300 067 4000

How to contact us

To contact us regarding policy enquiries (not covered by the above guidance) please email defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk

You should clearly label your query by subject area to help us allocate your enquiry to the right team.

You can also contact us by calling our Helpline: 03459 33 55 77. The Helpline is open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm. Find out about call charges.

If you wish to contact us regarding a complaint, follow our complaints procedure.

Published 30 May 2017
Last updated 14 December 2022 + show all updates
  1. Updated with a link to new guidance about reporting dead wild birds.

  2. Minor changes to remove references to postal queries during coronavirus.

  3. Updated contact information for enquires about goods moving between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

  4. Removed the 1-3 January helpline information and added fish exports and chemicals helplines to the main lists

  5. Updated the information under the 'How to contact us' heading.

  6. Minor changes to the "Animal health and welfare" section to clarify where queries should be directed during coronavirus outbreak.

  7. Updated the email contact for Veterinary medicines authorisations and regulations (postmaster@vmd.gov.uk).

  8. Updated page to make it clear there will be delays to postal queries during the COVID19 outbreak.

  9. Updated the contact details under the online services helpdesks heading.

  10. Updated the email address for queries related to exports of animal, animal products (where export health certificate needed) and imports of live animals.

  11. Added contact details for IPAFFS (Import of products, animals, food and feed system) and SAM service

  12. additional contact references covering EU Exit

  13. Added a new section to cover our online services.

  14. We've changed our contact arrangements to amended email addresses.

  15. First published.