The animal charities RSPCA and Blue Cross are planning to work together more closely in a range of areas to save money.
The organisations said key areas being explored included purchasing and supplies, where they believed economies of scale savings could be found, and in the transport of animals and behaviour services.
The charities said they would remain independent organisations and had no plans to merge.
They said in a statement that by working together they would “be able to provide a wider, more complementary service, such as joining up and working together to care for rescued animals and rehome pets in crisis or in need”.
Asked whether the move could lead to any job losses across the two organisations, an RSPCA spokesperson said: “Like most charities, both charities are looking at ensuring long-term sustainability as a result of the unprecedented situation, and this partnership approach is an exciting way of collaborating to use our valuable funds to get best value for money and to benefit animal welfare.
“We are spending a period of time looking at how we could work more closely together. Details of what that will look like at this stage is unknown.”
The RSPCA employs about 1,440 people, after it made 269 redundancies earlier this year as part of a restructure accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, while Blue Cross has about 750 employees.
Chris Burghes, chief executive of Blue Cross, said: “It feels that we are on the cusp of something truly exciting to reach more pets, and the people they share their lives with.
“There is much natural alignment in both our strategies and in areas of the country where we both have a presence, there is opportunity for strong working collaboration for an even greater impact for animals and communities.”
Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the RSPCA, said: “We hope these talks will lead to collaborations allowing us to help animals more quickly and save money so we can channel our scarce resources to the range of RSPCA’s animal welfare work, including our unique frontline rescue work.
“We are keen to build strong relationships with charities across the sector so we can all collectively focus our efforts on helping the animals which need us. Strengthening partnerships is central to our new strategy.”