LACS pays out £30k to former CEO for breach of contract

The trials and tribulations of plaguing the internal workings of animal charity League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) continues, after the organisation was forced to pay £30,000 to its former chief executive for breach of departure agreement.

Andy Knott, former CEO of LACS

Andy Knott led LACS from January 2018 until March of last year. He filed an employment tribunal claim against the charity in the High Court last year, claiming he was unfairly dismissed and that LACS neglected to pay him for his three-month notice period.

The court has now found that despite a clear agreement, LACS initially failed to honour the agreed payment terms. The charity has now agreed to pay him £29,505 to resolve the breach of contract claim. Legal documents show that both parties have accepted the settlement terms, requiring the charity to make payment within 14 days.

This resolution addresses one aspect of broader legal proceedings initiated by Knott. But his accusations of political interference within LACS’s operations, brought in a £3 million private lawsuit against the charity over its alleged failure to protect him from “extreme threats and harassment”, is ongoing.

Knott accused LACS of political capture, describing the charity as an “empty vessel of the Labour party”. As a charity, LACS must be completely apolitical in its dealings.

According to Knott, “Trustees used my pay to coerce me. The money they owed me will likely be dwarfed by their legal costs already spent in defending my claim and the losses in donations and reputational damage they were warned about beforehand. That they can continue to use charitable funds to defend themselves is a scandal.”

After recent developments, though, paying £30,000 to an aggrieved ex-employee must be the least of LACS’s issues. In April 2025, the charity’s former chairman, Dan Norris, was arrested on suspicious of rape and child sex offences. Norris, who was also the Labour MP for Northeast Somerset and Hanham, was still in his post at LACS at the time of the arrest.

Norris (left) with BBC presenter Chris Packham (centre) at an event in Parliament hosted by cosmetics brand Lush

Norris is not the first politician associated with LACS to be brought down by accusations of illegal sexual activity. In January, former veterans minister Ivor Caplin was arrested in Brighton for allegedly attempting to meet with a 15-year-old boy he had spoken to online. Caplin had previously been awarded a lifetime membership by LACS for his role in sponsoring the 2004 Hunting Act.

Writing on X, the CEO of the Countryside Alliance Tim Bonner shared the news of Caplin’s arrest and observed that “it is extraordinary how many of those who tries [sic] to lecture us about the morality of hunting 20 years ago are utterly immoral.”