National Centre Appeal

Our new national centre will allow us to help more families, train more dogs and change more lives. Learn how you can help.

The Need

Support Dogs’ work is life-saving and life-changing. We have a huge societal value, estimating that our services save individuals, community services, and the NHS over £40million a year.

However, the level of demand for our services is unacceptable. Over 28,000 families and individuals accessed the application pages for our services in 2025. Due to the wide range of conditions our charity supports, the potential demand far exceeds this.

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is the most common neurological condition in the UK, affecting over 600,000 people. 3 people die every day resulting from undetected seizures. Support Dogs is only charity in the UK training epilepsy seizure alert dogs. They provide life saving, 100% reliable warning before every seizure a service user has.

Autism

The National Autistic Society estimates that there are over 700,000 autistic children and adults in the UK. Support Dogs trained the UK’s first autism assistance dog in 2008 and provides vital support for autistic children as they develop, providing safety and facilitation of a more inclusive and independent life.

Disability

Our disability assistance programme provides life-saving and life-changing support for people living with a wide range of physical disabilities. This includes conditions such as MS, Cerebral Palsy and Spinal Cord Injury.

We need to grow and help more people. One of the biggest barriers to us doing this has been space.

In 2024, we began the ambitious project to transform the site of a former warehouse with a capacity over four times bigger than anything our charity has had before. This offers the opportunity to significantly increase the number of families we can help each year.