Update: The End to Personal Alcohol Licences?

In September 2013 the Home Office consultation ‘Personal Alcohol Licences: Enabling Targeted, Local Alternatives’ considered whether the requirement for Personal Licences to sell alcohol in England and Wales should be revoked. This was discussed in our article ‘The End to Personal Alcohol Licences?’ October 2013 (https://www.glovers..co.uk/insights/news/the-end-to-personal-alcohol-licences/).

The outcome of the public consultation

Responses to the proposal to remove Personal Licences in favour of authorities developing their own more targeted alternatives were received from representatives of trade, police, licensing authorities, training providers, licensing specialists and other interested parties.

There was generally little support for the proposal. The concern of respondents was that the Personal Licence system was seen as a source of pride and an indication of professionalism within the industry. If training had a more local targeted approach it might “create a patchwork quilt of different licensing conditions that would be very difficult to enforce” and 94% of trade respondents thought the lack of consistency in training requirements could also result in unscrupulous operators disregarding and undermining the licensing objectives. One police force in particular expressed concern that it would create an unregulated system of training with no standard on quality. Targeted training may also cause difficulties and inconsistency for large operators with a general package of training.

In regards to the abolition of mandatory training, there was concern that it could result in unqualified people selling alcohol which may cause an increase in alcohol being sold to children as well as greater burdens on licensing authorities and the police. Two major pub organisations stated that they actually prefer their staff to be trained anyway to make them aware of their responsibilities.

Alternative suggestions made by respondents

As an alternative, many respondents suggested tightening up the system further rather than deregulating it.

These suggestions included:

• Ensuring a trained Personal Licence holder was on the premises at all times that alcohol is being sold;
• The introduction of tiered training accredited schemes;
• The introduction of a national licence holder database;
• Powers introduced that enable licensing authorities to remove Personal Licences from holders.

The overall outcome

The Government ultimately decided not to proceed with the proposal to abolish the Personal Licences System. Whilst the Government welcomed the suggestions for reforms to the licensing regime, they indicated that they have no immediate plans to take any of these forward. The result seems to be a victory for both operators who prefer the standardised system for training their staff and also relevant authorities who feared that removing Personal Licences would result in more cases of Premises Licences being abused.

Please note that this information is provided for general knowledge only and therefore specific advice should be sought for individual cases.

For further information, please contact Philip Shotter or Paul Jagger.