Making Raystede fit for the future: how and why we need to change

Raystede is undertaking a major internal review and redesign to ensure we can adapt to the changes in our sector and the wider community and continue to deliver high animal welfare standards and outcomes long into the future.

We are currently running a deficit budget – in the financial year 2025 – 2026, it was a £1m loss. This is not sustainable, and next year will be the same, so we must take responsible steps to ensure Raystede is fit for the future. To deliver this effectively, we need a structure and financial model that can support our work for the long term.

Our organisational review to ensure Raystede is fit for the future indicates that a limited number of roles could be affected. Raystede will begin a formal consultation with impacted staff from the end of April 2026, ensuring potentially affected staff are treated fairly and respectfully. We hope that you will appreciate that out of respect for colleagues and in accordance with employment law, we cannot share details about staffing proposals until the consultation process has ended.

Raystede is proposing to step away from on-site care for some species, aviary birds and fowl. This will happen over a transitionary period to allow for the relocation and rehoming of animals, with all such decisions being welfare-led. The rationale is based on:

• The organisation’s commitment to prioritising high welfare outcomes for all animals
• A shift towards focussing on species where Raystede can reliably provide excellent welfare and meaningful impact under the Prevention, Support, Care model
• The need to concentrate sustainable resources – staffing, facilities and expertise – on areas central to the revised strategy.

This is a strategic and sustainability decision, not a reflection on the dedication of skill of our teams.

First and foremost, this process is guided by welfare considerations. But like many animal welfare charities, such as the RSPCA, Dogs Trust, SSPCA, etc, we are facing significant financial challenges largely beyond our control. Over the past two years we’ve spent more than £1m each year above the income we’ve generated. So, if we are to be here to care for animals in the long-term, we need to focus on the best way to use our resources to achieve that. These are not easy choices, but they are necessary ones.

We will rehome and rehouse all the birds in our care. We will prioritise rehoming or relocation to organisations or environments that can meet high standards of care.

To do this properly takes time - and we’ve no wish to rush it, so a period of up to nine months has been suggested to find the right new homes for our aviary birds. But it could take longer - the priority is finding the best possible outcome for the birds.

We will rehome or relocate all the birds. We have had some very positive initial conversations with other avian organisations and charities and will seek to work in partnership with them and others to find the best homes for the birds.

We are including this question only because we have been asked. No, we are not going to put any birds to sleep as part of this process. The plan is to rehome and rehouse all the birds after assessing their health and welfare.

Avian Influenza housing restrictions have significantly impacted the welfare of all our birds, particularly for fowl, who have been confined for nearly half the year, every year for the last five years. While not the sole reason, these restrictions have highlighted the ongoing welfare limitations of the current model.

This is to be explored.

No. The remainder of our 43-acre site remains open and operating as usual. We very much welcome adopters, fosterers, supporters and visitors to see our work in action and support our mission.

We will still be caring for all the other species at Raystede - dogs, cats, rabbits, small animals, horses, ponies, donkeys, goats, sheep, tortoises and terrapins - so need to focus our resources on these.

No. These areas are currently closed due to the national Avian Influenza Prevention Zone. Even if restrictions lift, they will remain closed during the consultation period out of respect for staff who may be affected.

The rest of our 43-acre site remains open as usual.

We understand how much these areas, and the birds themselves, mean to many of our supporters. We will keep Sponsors updated sensitively and transparently, and we will honour our responsibilities to them.

Our shops and commercial operations will raise £600,000 profit for the charity this year. The shops are all very profitable – a big thank you to our customers, volunteers and stock donors.

Our fundraising team are expected to raise £1.4m this year. Having restructured and reduced the size of the fundraising team last year, we are not planning to make additional investment in fundraising at this time. Of course, we need our current team of staff and volunteers to raise that money and secure funds for the future.

Over the past year, when thinking about how to organise Raystede for the future, we explored a wide range of alternative plans and options. We also undertook a thorough review of all our costs across the charity and made changes in a number of areas last year. This included managing the site, our visitor operation, commercial and fundraising costs, management and office staff.

Offering sanctuary to some animals remains very much part of Raystede's plans and continues to form part of our strategy framework with the vision that: Animals in Sussex have a good life, and people are supported to achieve that.

This aim is supported by three pillars:

Prevention – More people are choosing their pets and keeping animals more responsibly and knowledgably.

Support – More pets are able to live a good life and, where appropriate, stay at home with their owners with subsequent animal welfare benefits.

Care – More animals that are not able to be looked after elsewhere are rehabilitated and rehomed well or are provided with sanctuary.

While we have outlined our proposals to look towards moving away from providing on-site care for aviary birds and fowl, this does not impact the other animals at Raystede for whom we currently offer sanctuary to or those who might need this in the future.

You are very welcome to contact us with questions - you can do this via the email address feedback@raystede.org. Please understand that there are limits to what we can discuss while the staff consultation is active. We will continue to share updates whenever we are able to do so.

Your kindness, understanding and support mean the world to us. You can help by:

• Continuing to visit our site
• Supporting our shops, café and fundraising
• Making a donation or becoming a Friend or Sponsor
• Telling others about our work
• Standing with us as we navigate these difficult, but necessary changes

Your support helps protect Raystede’s future so we can continue to give animals in Sussex a good life and support people to do that for many years to come. Thank you from all of us at Raystede.

We are not a zoo or a commercial animal attraction, we are a working animal welfare centre. We are glad to welcome visitors who through their voluntary support for the charity, enable Raystede to offer all our charitable services, care and sanctuary for animals and support for pet owners.

It can be difficult to strike a balance between 1) our wish to welcome visitors and supporters to get closer to and understand our work, experience our beautiful site and 2) the need to protect our rescued animals who are often very nervous and stressed by the public and 3) our wish to make it clear that we are not a zoo or animal attraction. There are inherent conflicts and tensions in opening up the site to visitors and we have worked hard to move away from the ‘great free day out’ offer. It is very unusual for a working animal rescue charity to welcome visitors and the general public. We feel that if we make a charge for entry, it will create an expectation for the visit and we cannot guarantee that there will be any animals to see.

We are planning to introduce a voluntary car parking charge for visitors over the next few weeks, this will help to offset some costs. However, our current long term financial challenges are not directly related to what we offer visitors to our site in Ringmer. We have grown our income hugely over the past 5 years and people are very generous to Raystede but we cannot sustain the charity as it is currently structured in the long term because of rising costs. We are not alone in this – many local and national charities are facing the exact same situation and taking action, especially and sadly animal welfare charities which receive no government, statutory or Lottery funding.