Building One Source of Truth. Trusted Everywhere.

The compliance layer we are building for airlines, hotels, insurers, and transport operators to verify assistance dog teams at booking. Anchored in charity-authoritative data, aligned to regulations.

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Handlers in the UK and Netherlands reporting multiple access refusals in the past year

Refused transport (taxis, ride-share, private hire)

Face routine scepticism from staff and the public

Source: ADI / IGDF · Paws for Access Report · 2 June 2025

The operator dilemma

Operators want to do the right thing. They lack the tools to verify.

Airlines, hotels, and transport operators carry compliance risk every day. IATA's first-edition Guidance on Service Dogs confirms the gap: there is no globally consistent framework for how airlines should verify assistance dogs. Without a trusted way to verify at the moment of booking, operators default to over-policing (excluding genuine handlers) or under-policing (waving everyone through). Both are reputational and legal liabilities. Pawthority Global is building the defensible, auditable answer.

One platform. One source of truth.

VADS verifies. Vera certifies.

Global compliance infrastructure for assistance dog travel, engineered around charity-issued data as the authoritative source of truth. In build with a founding charity cohort: concept demonstrations are live on this site, and first integrations open to founding partners.

VADS · Operator-facing verification

VADS

Verified Assistance Dog System

The operator-facing system behind every check. Operators query VADS and get an instant, verifiable answer, drawn from charity-authorised data, at the exact moment they need it.

An instant PASS or No match at booking or check-in, returned in seconds

Operator console and dashboard, with a tamper-evident, append-only audit trail for every check

Only verified status is shared, never the handler's personal data

Verification is always voluntary and never a condition of access

Scan-to-verify QR at your point of service, plus API into your booking systems

Designed to UK GDPR data-minimisation standards

Vera · The Charity Platform

Vera

From the Latin verus, 'true'

The charity side of Pawthority. The certifying charities hold and authorise their assistance dog team records in Vera, the single source of truth every verification draws on. You stay in control; Vera never overwrites or replaces your data.

Recognised everywhere your handlers go, with no repeat forms for the people you serve

You stay the source of truth: Pawthority federates your register, never overwrites or replaces it

You decide what is shared, with whom, and when

Operators receive a verified status only, never your beneficiaries' personal data

A full, tamper-evident, append-only audit trail of every authorised check, owned by you

Pawthority Connect · The Next Pillar

Pawthority Connect

One connection. Every partner. No more duplicate work.

The channel that ends bespoke, one-off data deals. Approved partners, insurers, vets, training bodies, connect once and feed consented data straight into Vera. Charities keep total control. Industry stops rebuilding the same integration for every charity it works with.

For industry: one connection to Vera, not dozens of one-off charity integrations

For charities: you decide what is shared and with whom, always

One way, consent based, push only: data flows in, never back out

Structurally and contractually separate from VADS: handler verification is never touched

How it works

Charity data in. Verified status out.

1

Charity

The certifying charity holds the master record, the authoritative source of truth. They control what is shared, and when.

Certified data→
2

VADS · operator-facing verification

Secure multi-tenant system and REST API. A single-use token runs a real-time check against authorised charity data and writes a full audit trail.

GDPR-minimised
Pass / No match→
3

Operator

Airline, hotel, insurer or transport operator gets an instant, defensible answer at the moment of booking.

VADS verifies. Vera certifies. No personal data leaves the charity's control without the charity's authorisation.

The Founding Charity Cohort

Your certification, recognised everywhere your handlers go.

You do the hard work of certifying assistance dogs. Pawthority makes that certification verifiable at every airline desk, hotel front desk, and insurance form, without your handlers filling in another paper form, and without you losing control of a single record.

You stay the source of truth

Your records remain the master register. Pawthority never overwrites, never replaces, never competes with your certification. We make it portable, not public. IATA's guidance is explicit: digital credentials are not intended to take the form of a publicly accessible registry. Ours never will.

You control every record

You decide what's shared, with whom, and when. GDPR data-minimisation is designed in, so operators see only a verified yes or no, never your beneficiaries' personal data.

Your handlers stop re-proving themselves

One verified profile, reused across aviation, hospitality, transport and insurance. No repeat forms. No “where's your paperwork?” at the gate. Fewer refusals, less distress for the people you serve.

Join the founding charity cohort.

We are opening a small founding cohort of charity partners to shape how verification works across the sector, and to make sure it serves the people you support. Founding partners get hands-on onboarding and a direct say in the platform's design.

Frequently asked questions

What does it cost us?

Nothing. Pawthority is funded by the operators who license it, so charities and handlers are never charged, during the founding programme or after.

What do we have to do?

Very little. We lead the technical integration and work alongside your team. You keep full control of your data and decide what's shared.

What about our beneficiaries' data?

It stays yours. Operators receive a verified status only, never personal information. The platform is designed around GDPR data minimisation, and a Data Protection Impact Assessment covering VADS and Vera data flows is shared with founding partners during onboarding.

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Built for the operators who carry the burden

Built for operators carrying real compliance risk.

From airline booking flows to hotel reservation systems and insurance underwriting, Pawthority Global integrates at the exact points where verification has to happen, turning a compliance risk into a routine API call.

01 / AVIATION

Airlines & Airports

VADS slots into your booking flow at the "assistance dog declared" moment. An instant result at booking, with DOT, DfT and EN 17984-6 alignment. Mapped to the booking and check-in touchpoints in IATA's first-edition Guidance on Service Dogs, with a settled status visible at the gate.

02 / HOSPITALITY

Hotels & Venues

Front-desk QR verification and operator dashboards: accessibility done right, with consistent guest experience across every property in your group.

03 / MARITIME

Cruise & Ferry

A sector with no dominant standard and no verification layer. Pawthority brings airline-grade verification to a market that has, until now, defaulted to paper-and-judgement.

04 / PRIVATE HIRE

Transport & Rideshare

API-first verification for operators of any scale, from a single black-cab firm to a national rideshare network.

05 / INSURANCE

Underwriters & Brokers

A single API call confirms verified assistance dog status for travel, pet, and specialty underwriting, reducing misrepresentation risk at point of policy.

06 / CORPORATE

Workplaces & Stadiums

One consistent, auditable check across portfolio venues, replacing ad hoc manual assessment.

The Pawthority Kite Mark

Kite Marks that customers see.

One mark, three levels, each one telling assistance dog handlers you are ready for them. The Kite Mark certifies your business, a distinct layer from VADS and Vera. It is in development, and we are opening it first to a founding cohort of operators.

Pawthority Gold Tier Accredited Assistance Dog Partner Badge

Gold

The benchmark. You set the standard other operators are measured against, and your customers see it the moment they reach you.

Instant VADS checks built into your booking and check-in flow

Named account support for complex bookings and escalations

Independent annual audit, assurance you can put in front of regulators

Listing on the Pawthority operator directory at launch

Priority support and quarterly accessibility insights

Pawthority Silver Tier Accredited Assistance Dog Partner Badge

Silver

Proven and consistent. Your team handles assistance dog access confidently, every time and across every touchpoint.

Hosted VADS verification, deployable without an engineering project

Operator dashboard to track checks and spot access trends

Two-yearly compliance self-assessment

Directory listing at launch

Standard support from the Pawthority team

Pawthority Bronze Tier Accredited Assistance Dog Partner Badge

Bronze

Where you start. You've committed to getting access right and put it on record, visible proof you're moving in the right direction.

Scan-to-verify QR at your point of service

Staff briefing pack so your front line gets it right

Annual compliance self-assessment

Right to display the Pawthority Kite Mark

Email support when you need it

Why we are building this

A note from the founder.

I'm a veteran. I'm an assistance dog handler. My PTSD assistance dog Ziggy goes everywhere I do. Yet sometimes, I've been turned away from shops, queried at airline desks, doubted at hotel front desks. Not because anyone meant harm. Not because it was policy, but because no system existed that could prove what was true.

Pawthority Global is what I needed and never had: a single, trusted, instantly-verifiable record. Not for me. For the operators on the other side of every encounter, who deserve the tools to do the right thing without hesitation, to provide the best service and reduce the risks.

Richard Mearns

Founder, Pawthority Global

Ready to talk?

If you operate, regulate, fund or partner, we want to hear from you.

We are engaging charity partners, regulators, airlines and insurers, and we welcome approaches from strategic investors and technical co-founders.

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