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Animal

Animal care worker Green Job

Animal care workers look after animals in kennels, rescue centres and sanctuaries.

Annual Salary

£14,000 to £24,000

Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

38 to 40 a week

You could work: evenings / weekends / bank holidays; on shifts

5.4%
Future employment

There will be 5.4% more Animal care worker jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

You could work with domestic or wild animals to:

  • check animals daily and monitor their health
  • clean out kennels, enclosures, cages or stables
  • prepare food and help out at feeding times
  • clean and groom animals
  • look after sick or distressed animals
  • update records and deal with questions from colleagues or the public
  • make sure animals are exercised regularly

Working environment

You could work at an animal welfare centre, at a wildlife park or in kennels.

Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time, physically demanding and dirty.

You can get into this job through:

  • a college course
  • an apprenticeship
  • volunteering
  • working towards this role
College

You could take a college course in animal care, for example:

  • Level 1 Certificate in Skills for Working in Animal Care Industries
  • Level 2 Diploma in Animal Care
  • T Level in Animal Care and Management
  • Level 3 Award in Small Animal Care and Management

Entry requirements

You may need:

  • 2 or fewer GCSEs at grades 3 to 1 (D to G), or equivalent, for a level 1 course
  • 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course
  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths for a T Level
For more information
Apprenticeship

You could apply for a place on an apprenticeship, such as:

  • Animal Care and Welfare Assistant Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship
  • Animal Care and Welfare Manager Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship

These can take up to 1 year and 6 months to complete.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
For more information
Volunteering and work experience

It'll help to have some experience of working with animals before you start looking for a job.

Volunteering with animal rescue, animal sanctuaries or conservation charities can sometimes lead to paid work. You may need to do jobs like fundraising or administration first, as a way to get in.

You can search for volunteering opportunities on sites like:

Some of the bigger national animal charities include:

You may be able to find smaller animal charities in your area by searching on the internet.

More information

Career tips

Looking after your own pets, dog walking or pet sitting can be good ways of learning more about small animal care.

Further information

You can find out more about careers in animal care from the:National Land Based College UK; College of Animal Welfare

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With experience, you could become a supervisor or manager.

You could become self-employed and run your own business like dog walking, puppy training or pet sitting. You may be able to open your own kennels or cattery or set up an animal rescue charity.

You could also use your experience to move into other animal care careers, like veterinary nursing, or find work in a conservation or wildlife park. There may also be opportunities to go into animal training, for example as an assistance dog instructor.

You can find out more about careers in animal care from the National Land Based College UK and the College of Animal Welfare.

How does this job help to address the impacts of climate change and protect wildlife and nature in the West of England?

Animal Care Workers and Welfare Officers are needed in the West of England to help rescue and care for abandoned or injured domestic animals and also to protect and rehabilitate British wildlife species.

There are several different routes you can take to get into working as an animal care worker which you can explore further in the 'Routes into this job' section above. 

Click here for an explanation of the different course and apprenticeship levels.


Examples of post-16 courses you could study at local schools or colleges

  • Level 1-3 Animal Care at City of Bristol College
  • Level 1-3 Animal Care at Bath College
  • T Level in Animal Care and Management (available 2024)

Click here to find other local providers

Apprenticeships you may be able to take with local employers

  • Level 2 Animal Care
  • Level 2 Animal Welfare Assistant

Click here to search for a local apprenticeship


Local employers 

  • RSPCA
  • Bristol Animal Rescue Centre

As an animal care worker you could work in a local animal shelter or rescue centre. For more local employment opportunities see the 'Live job vacancies by region' section above.

Volunteering is a great way to build experience in animal care and may improve your chances of finding paid work. You can also build up contacts, which will be useful when looking for jobs. You can find local volunteering opportunities with: Secret World Wildlife RescueAvon Wildlife Trust and Somerset Wildlife Trust.

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • the ability to use your initiative
  • to be flexible and open to change
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • the ability to work well with others
  • the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
  • customer service skills
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • thinking and reasoning skills
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
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