Following its consultation in the summer, the Government has announced its final proposals to overhaul licensing law in England and Wales. The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill which includes most of these proposals, received its First Reading in the House of Commons on 30 November 2010. Over the next five days, we take an in-depth look at what’s in it. Today, we consider some of the proposals which will cost Licensees more.
tough consequences for missing annual fee payment
As envisaged by the proposals made by the Government in the summer, the Bill sets out tough penalties for failing to pay the annual fee for a Premises Licence or Club Premises Certificate. However, rather than revocation, the Government has plumped for suspension.
If a Licence Holder fails to pay the annual fee due, then it must suspend the Premises Licence or Club Premises Certificate. However, there is a grace period of 21 days from the date the annual fee became due. During the grace period, if it comes to light the failure to pay the fee is due to an administrative error or because the Licence Holder has given notice in writing that they disputed liability for or the amount of the fee, then the Licensing Authority must not suspend the licence.
There is no requirement for the Licensing Authority to investigate why the fee has not been paid, so in many cases, the grace period may be of no help. If you have failed to pay the annual fee due to an administrative error then it is likely that error may not come to light until after the licence has been suspended.
The Licensing Authority must give notice to the Licence Holder that their licence is suspended, and specify when the suspension takes effect. This date must be at least two working days after the date of the notice. It is hoped Licensing Authorities will be sensible in this regard, and perhaps set suspension dates from, for example, seven days from the date of the notice, to give Licence Holders who might have made administrative errors one final chance to pay the annual fee and avoid suspension.
Any suspension of a licence for failure to pay the annual fee ceases to have effect on receipt of the annual fee, the date of which must be noted on the acknowledgement sent to the Licence Holder.
late night levy
As expected, the Government has ploughed ahead with the late night levy, which Licensing Authorities can apply to all premises in their area to raise revenue to meet the cost of policing and other arrangements for the reduction or prevention of crime and disorder, in connection with the sale of alcohol between midnight and 6:00am. The amount of the levy has not been announced, but will be set nationally and be based on the rateable value bands used for calculating annual fees.
The late night levy must apply to all Premises Licences and Club Premises Certificates in a Licensing Authority’s area which are authorised to supply alcohol during the “late night supply period” which is the period of the day (which must be between midnight and 6:00am) the Licensing Authority decides the late night levy will apply, regardless of whether you are open during those times.
It would apply even if this was the case for only one day in the year. This may have a tremendous implication for the trade. Even those licences which continue to have only the old Justices’ Licence hours granted under Grandfather Rights during the conversion period in 2005 will have the thirty-six hour extension over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. This means that every on-licensed premises in England and Wales may end up paying the late night levy, simply to be able to stay open late on one night of the year. The only way to avoid the levy would be to vary your Premises Licence (at your cost!) to end the supply of alcohol before the late night supply period decided upon by your Licensing Authority (which might well be midnight!). Because the late night levy does not apply to TENs, you could then apply for a TEN for every New Year’s Eve (again, at your expense!) to enable you to open to the hours you used to open before you made your variation application! What a mess!
Licensing Authorities can decide to exempt certain classes of premises from the late night levy. How these categories can be arrived at is quite widely defined in the Bill. It could be for example, Premises Licences which authorise off sales of alcohol only. But the Bill also states “particular descriptions of premises” can be used as exemption categories. If Licensing Authorities become creative with these descriptions, then there may well be arguments about whether a particular premises falls into them or not.
The Bill also envisages reduction categories being set by Licensing Authorities. This will cover some of the issues discussed during the consultation period in the summer, such as providing reductions for those premises taking part in Purple Flag, BIDs and Best Bar None schemes, for example. Failure to pay the late night levy will be treated the same as failure to pay the annual fee, meaning that your Premises Licence will be suspended.
What do you think? Will these proposals cost your premises more? Please leave your comments below
If you have any queries relating to this article, please contact either Lisa Croft, Michael Parrott or Rob Westwood-Payne on 01242 285855 or email us.
As this information has been prepared by Maitland Walker LLP as a general guide, we recommend you seek specific professional advice before acting on any information contained within it. No liability can be accepted by Maitland Walker LLP for any action taken or not taken as a result of this information.
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