The UK Could Eliminate Caged Eggs By 2032

The UK could eliminate the use of caged egg production by 2032.

The British government recently launched a new consultation on phasing out cages for egg-laying hens over the next six years. The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) made the announcement on January 12, 2026.

The new consultation follows the draft Animal Welfare Strategy for England, which was published late last year. It included a proposed aim of phasing out all “confinement systems” for farmed animals, including both farrowing crates for pigs and colony cages for hens. The consultation is the next step towards that goal.

Colony cage systems currently account for just over 20 percent of egg production in the UK. According to the government, these systems can imprison up to 80 birds per cage, with each animal having a space the size of a single sheet of A4 paper.

“We are committed to improving the lives of farm animals and to supporting farmers to produce food sustainably, profitably, and to the high standards consumers expect,” said Dame Angela Eagle, the UK’s Farming Minister, in a statement.

The consultation itself is open for eight weeks, after which DEFRA will review responses and finalize regulations. Animal welfare organizations welcomed the news, but called for additional financial and logistical support for impacted farmers.

Under the proposed strategy, egg producers of all sizes would need to scrap cages.

Animal welfare in the UK

Photo shows several chickens in small, wire cages — Adobe Stock Farms would have until 2032 to complete the phase-out

Along with the new consultation on phasing out cages for egg-laying hens, the government also launched a consultation on Sheep Welfare Code updates that would minimize pain during castration and tail docking.

Both procedures are routinely carried out without anesthesia, which Anthony Field, the head of Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), described as causing “great suffering.” He added, “This is an extremely encouraging move.”

CIWF’s Food Business program described the new consultations as “huge” steps toward improved welfare standards and “finally addressing the suffering of more than seven million hens still kept in enriched cages across the UK each year.”

In November, a landmark report by the independent Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) called for widespread CO2 “stunning” of farmed pigs to be phased out in the UK. Also in November, the UK’s science minister proposed a new strategy to replace animal testing with alternative methods as soon as possible.