Responding to the news that licensees with personal licences expiring before spring 2015 will need to make an application to renew, the ALMR urged the Government to ensure there are no additional delays and no further burdens for licensed hospitality.
The Home Office has confirmed that the Deregulation Bill, which removes the need to renew, will not receive Royal Assent before spring of next year.
ALMR Chief Executive, Kate Nicholls said: “The ALMR has been vocal in its support of the retention of personal licences and have liaised with both Lynne Featherstone and her predecessor recently on this very issue. “The key point is that the Deregulation Bill is supposed to cut administrative burdens for licensees, not increase them with additional forms. There has been unanimous agreement between the trade, licensing officials and enforcement that renewal dates should be disregarded. Neither licensees nor local authorities wish to waste time processing further applications. This could easily be solved by commitment from the Government that no renewal is necessary pending adoption of Bill.
“This Government needs to ensure that this is implemented next spring with no delays. Half of all personal licences are due for renewal in the next financial year and further stoppages could cost the sector a huge amount of time and money. We are pleased to see the Government has taken the decision to scrap the renewal fee. This will save the sector millions of pounds which can be invested productively.”
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