National Animal Welfare Trust

Who we are

Our roots can be traced back to 1958, when the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) established BUAV Dog Rescue. The initiative to establish BUAV Dog Rescue was to stop dogs and puppies being bought at markets as a way of preventing them going to laboratories for vivisection.

In 1971 BUAV members felt that the work of BUAV Animal Aid was departing from its aims, and it was agreed to establish a separate charity to be known as Animal Welfare Trust (AWT). The word ‘National’ was added in 1996 as part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations to recognise the work of our remote supporter groups.

The majority of NAWT’s centres used to be standalone charities, but their founders or Trustees felt that they could give their charity a better future being part of NAWT. We are very proud of this approach as it enables an important community service to continue, and we feel honoured that individuals have entrusted their life’s work to us.

The National Animal Welfare Trust (NAWT) wishes to appoint additional Trustees to its Board to support and assist the organisation to help as many UK pets as possible by providing the appropriate services to pet owners, whatever their circumstances, to ensure a safe and secure future for their pets.

The Trust has a turnover in excess of £3.5 million per annum, employs over a 100 staff at four rescue and re-homing centres and has an active supporter and volunteer base. Trustee meetings are held quarterly in person, near our Head Office which is based at our Hertfordshire centre on the outskirts of Watford. We are keen to encourage applications from people with strong connections and links to other parts of the country where we work – Berkshire, Cornwall and Bedfordshire although this is not a pre-requisite.

Our culture and values

Our vision is that every pet will thrive in a loving home. Our mission is to improve the lives of pets by providing rehoming, educational and practical support to animal owners in our communities.

We rehome cats and dogs at all our Centres together with a variety of other animals depending on the facilities available. We support a number of local authorities in helping with stray animals. Our Centres are open to the public to encourage interaction and education, so that people have a better understanding of what it means to take care of an animal. We are developing our range of preventative activities, where we can work with our communities to offer educational and practical support to help pets to stay with their loving families during difficult times.