Late Night Levy and Early Morning Restriction Orders - Home
Office consultation
The Home Office have issued a consultation on
secondary legislation for the implementation of the Late Night Levy
('the levy') provisions and Early Morning Restriction Orders
('EMROs') which form part of the Police Reform and Social
Responsibility Act 2011.
The consultation will run for six weeks
until 10 April 2012 with views being sought from
the leisure and retail industries; licensing agencies and other
interested parties. Here we summarise the key points of the
levy and EMRO provisions and the proposals for implementation in
the consultation.
Late Night Levy
key provisions
- A licensing authority may decide that a late
night levy should be applied to licensed premises in its area with
the aim of contributing towards the policing costs for any crime
and disorder arising from alcohol supply between 12
midnight and 6 am.
- A licensing authority may not limit the late night levy to only
part of its area, although it will have discretion
on the time period to be applied between 12 midnight and 6 am and
the days of the week.
- The levy will not apply to TEN's and will also not apply to any
relaxation of hours for special occasions permitted by the
Secretary of State under s.172 Licensing Act 2003 (e.g. the Diamond
Jubilee celebrations).
The consultation sets out a 'Process Map' for
when and how licensing authorities should consult on the need for a
levy; its design including the exemptions and discounts that should
apply and the proportion of net levy revenue it wishes to keep to
fund other activities (subject to a maximum of 30%). The
implementation of a levy is an optional power and the Home Office
expect that many authorities will not find it an appropriate means
for raising revenue.
The time period from the licensing authority
publishing its own consultation on the proposed scheme until the
start of the levy year will be at least nine months. The
proposal in the Home Office consultation is that payment from those
who are subject to a levy should be made along with their annual
premises licence fee.
The consultation proposes that a number of
premises should be exempt from the levy, including: hotels;
restaurants; theatres and cinemas; casinos and bingo clubs and
country village pubs (defined as premises in rural settlements with
a population of less than 3,000).
The consultation asks for views on possible
exemptions in other cases:
- private members clubs operating under a Club
Premises Certificate
- premises that only trade after 12 midnight on
New Year's Eve
- premises already paying a levy as part of a
Business Improvement District scheme if the authority is satisfied
that the aims meet a satisfactory crime and disorder focus
….and recommends reductions in the levy for
premises participating in 'best practice' schemes such as Best Bar
None; Pubwatch; Clubwatch; Shopwatch and premises contributing to a
Community Alcohol Partnership in their area or other 'local'
schemes that meet a measureable benchmark. The reduction proposed
is 10% per scheme subject to a 30% maximum per premises.
The consultation seeks views on how net levy
funds (up to 30%) retained by licensing authorities should be
applied and offers some examples: taxi marshals; 'booze buses';
late night town wardens and extra street cleaning services.
The Impact Assessment to the consultation
proposes the standard levy charge should be banded based on the
NDRV of the premises, as follows:
|
licence fee band
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
Dx*
|
E
|
Ex*
|
|
existing annual licence fee
|
£70
|
£180
|
£295
|
£320
|
£640
|
£350
|
£1,050
|
|
levy charge
|
£299
|
£768
|
£1,259
|
£1,365
|
£2,730
|
£1,493
|
£4,440
|
|
*(Dx and Ex) Multiplier applies to premises in
category D and E that primarily or exclusively sell alcohol
|
The proposed Late Night Levy scheme is
certainly controversial and will undoubtedly lead to inequities for
individual premises where authorities eventually implement a scheme
following their own consultation. We are still some way off
in view of the time period set down in the Process Map and also the
need for regulations and Home Office Guidance for the criteria and
details for the establishment of a levy scheme, but it is important
that operators make their views known to the questions raised in
the consultation before the 10 April 2012 deadline.
EMRO's
EMRO's were initially introduced by the last
Government as a means of enabling licensing authorities to restrict
the sale of alcohol in the whole or part of their areas between 3
am and 6 am but have never been implemented. The new
Government has amended the hours so that authorities can apply the
EMRO between 12 midnight and 6 am which would
obviously capture far more premises if implemented.
The implementation of an EMRO is again subject
to regulations which will also set out exempted premises. The
consultation offers some examples for proposed exemptions: hotels;
theatres and cinemas; casinos and bingo clubs and community
premises but curiously have not included restaurants. It
recommends that an EMRO should not apply after midnight on New
Year's Eve or for Orders for relaxed hours on special occasions
which will hardly be controversial. However, it does
recommend that alcohol sales under a TEN would be restricted by an
EMRO where it applies.
The Home Office believe that local discretion
should be paramount for and EMRO scheme and other exemptions may be
applied. These may, for example, require premises to add a
condition via the minor variations process before they qualify for
exemption.
The consultation seeks views on the proposed
exemptions and the other proposals for EMRO's. This is a very
controversial piece of legislation which leaves many questions
unanswered and we would strongly recommend a response by operators
before the deadline on 10th April 2012.
View the consultation document online.
