Should a licensee employ more than one personal licence holder?

Should a licensee employ more than one personal licence holder? According to guidance recommended by the Department of Culture Media and Sport, this is an operational decision for the premises licence holder. Holders of the premises licence may wish to have more than one personal licence holder, in case a new DPS has to be appointed at short notice, and to allow greater flexibility in fulfilling the requirement that every alcohol sale to be made or authorised by a personal licence holder (Licensing Act 2003, 19.3). On a day-to-day basis, proficient numbers of fully trained staff can help avoid unauthorised sales of alcohol from licensed retail premises.

Retailers need to be aware of these kinds of responsibilities under the Licensing Act 2003. This is quite simple! Licencee responsibilities are encapsulated within the four licensing objectives within the premises licence, for instance, the protection of children from harm. This means it is the Licensee or owners duty to ensure this licensing objective is promoted to avoid any under-age sales taking place from licensed premises.  With Christmas approaching fast, retailers need to be aware of the liklihood of increased police and trading standards test purchase operations over the festive season.

The aim of Personal Licence Training is to ensure licence holders are aware of licensing law and the wider social responsibilities attached to the sale of alcohol. Some licensees may therefore consider it appropriate to have more than one personal licence holder in order to promote one or more of the four licensing objectives. It should be stressed, however, that a personal licence is not a qualification that is associated with business competency and other forms of training should be considered alongside the personal licence.

Personal Licence Training Limited have launched a short course designed for members of staff which covers the following key areas.

  • Responsibilities & duties of staff
  • Responsibilities to the DPS and owner
  • Understanding the Licensing Objectives
  • Challenge policy
  • Acceptable identification and what to look for
  • Fake identification and how to spot it
  • Age restricted products including alcohol
  • Unauthorised sales
  • Fines under the Licensing Act 2003
  • Police and Trading Standards powers
  • Criminal prosecutions
  • Effects on the premises licence

This type of course is designed to assist retailers in the promotion of the licensing objectives. Additionally, increasing the number of personal licence holders on licensed premises is highly recommended.

For more information on personal licence training courses or responsible alcohol retailing courses, please contact Personal Licence Training Limited on Tel: 01527 544 780

 

by admin Posted on November 25, 2011
Posted in Alcohol Licence Law, Alcohol Licence London, Alcohol Licence Training, Announcements, APLH, challenge 25, News, Personal Alcohol Licence, Personal Licence, personal licence London, Responsible Alcohol Retailing, underage sales | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minimum retail price of alcoholic drinks to be set for England and Wales

As part of a coalition agreement, a ban of the sale of alcohol below a minimum price will be introduced in England and Wales from 6 April 2012. It has been predicted by the Home Office that a resulting shift in consumer patterns will prevent around 7,000 alcohol-related crimes a year. Under the conditions of the Act, shops and bars will not be able to sell drinks for less than the tax paid on them, capping minimum retail prices at 21p per unit of beer and 28p per unit of spirits. On the high street, this will translate as 38p for can of weak lager and £10.71 for a litre of vodka.

The legislative change is designed to prevent retailers offering heavily discounted alcoholic drinks as a “loss-leader” marketing device, carefully targeting the cut-price beverages that David Cameron has publicly highlighted as a root cause of alcohol-related crime and health concerns. As critics have already pointed out, the retail price of most drinks will remain unaffected.

In Scotland, a broader solution is currently under review, with a bill reintroduced by MSPs aiming to target the minimum retail price of every alcoholic drink.  The price setting formula embodied within the bill stipulates that minimum price will be calculated per unit of alcohol, resulting in minimum retail prices across the marketing spectrum, for “budget” and “luxury” brands alike:

The minimum price of alcohol is to be calculated according to the following formula—

MPU x S x V x 100

where—

MPU is the minimum price per unit,

S is the strength of the alcohol, and

V is the volume of the alcohol in litres.

[Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Bill]

For more information on the Scottish Alcohol Pricing Bill, click here.

by Mark Posted on November 15, 2011
Posted in Alcohol Licence Law, Responsible Alcohol Retailing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Off-licences targeted in Alcohol Concern report

New research commissioned by Alcohol Concern, the national agency on alcohol misuse, has identified a positive correlation the density of off-licensed premises and harm from alcohol in underage drinkers. Their national survey suggests that within a given locality*, the average number of under-18 year olds being admitted to hospital due to alcohol specific conditions increases proportionally with the number of off-licences (with an average 1:2 relationship identified).

The report, One on every Corner, concludes that off-licence sales are the predominant direct and indirect source of access to alcohol for young people under 18 years old. Alcohol Concern Chief Executive, Don Shenker, said: “It is a failing of the current system that so many licences are being granted without due consideration to young people’s health…A new health objective should be included in the Licensing Act to enable local authorities to refuse new licenses in order to reduce alcohol-related harm and protect young people.” The report argues that Government needs to introduce measures that reduce the general availability of alcohol by regulating off licence density.

So what can be done within off-licences to combat the dangers posed by underage drinking? All personal licence holders are legally required to actively promote the four licensing objectives:

1: The prevention of crime and disorder

2: Public Safety

3: The prevention of public nuisance

4: The protection of children from harm

In order to minimise the risk of sale of alcohol to underage customers, personal licence holders are increasingly implementing a Challenge 25 policy. Recent changes to UK licensing law have already seen a mandatory Challenge 25 policy introduced in Scotland.

More information about Challenge 25 can be found here. You can download a free “Challenge 25” poster by clicking here.

*excluding London

by Mark Posted on November 14, 2011
Posted in challenge 25, News, Personal Alcohol Licence, Responsible Alcohol Retailing, Stories, underage sales | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scotland’s challenge Policy- should England & Wales follow?

Responsible alcohol retailing: what more can be done to help prevent unauthorised sales of alcohol to children? Member of Scottish Parliament were briefed recently on Scotland’s new ‘challenge 25’ age verification law at a special event in the Scottish Parliament.

Hosted by the Scottish Beer and Pub Association, and sponsored by Heineken UK, the event was held to inform politicians about the change, which came into force on October 1 under the Scottish Licensing Act (2005). The development means all licensed premises in Scotland must have an age verification policy in place that requires staff to ask anyone who looks under 25 for ID when attempting to buy alcohol.

Alcohol licence.org asks the question should England & Wales follow Scotland’s lead and introduce a blanket “Challenge 25 Policy” across the whole country. This would included Northern Ireland when their current licensing regime is reviewed in the future. A spokes person from Personal Licence Training Ltd said ” We currently advise all new retailers and personal licence holders that a Challenge 25 policy is the most sensible option as it can help prevent mistakes when serving alcohol to young people. We have even produced our own challenge 25 posters that we send out with each new personal licence we produce. All of the new premises licence applications that we  prepare will included a challenge 25 policy in the licensing schedule and we have been preparing new licence application this way for over 18 months as we believe it helps prevent un-authorised sales of alcohol to minors.

Raising the age limit for alcohol sales in the UK would have a more damaging effect on the on licence trade as the trade has suffered badly from the recent smoking ban and increased competition from the major high street retailers. Another sensible option would be for England & Wales to follow Scotland’s lead on staff training in relation to alcohol sales, currently all staff serving or retailing alcohol in Scotland must have a minimum of two hours training on the licensing Act for Scotland. The ultimate goal has to be responsible alcohol retaining whether sales are made form on licence premises or from off licence premises.

We are currently developing a new responsible alcohol retailing course which also covers retailing other age restricted products such as knives and offensive weapons, solvents and cigarette products. We believe this new product will be invaluable to retailers and help prevent staff from making mistakes. The new course also covers in depth spotting fake identification and knowledge of acceptable forms of identification. The introduction of mandatory basic staff training to England and Wales could make retailing of alcohol safer as all staff would be aware of their duties and responsibilities concerning alcohol sales. Staff would also be more aware of the possible fines they could face for unauthorised sales to under age people or drunks

We would welcome your comments on this article!

by admin Posted on November 14, 2011
Posted in Alcohol Licence Law, Alcohol Licence Training, challenge 25, fake ID, News, Personal Alcohol Licence, Personal Licence, Pubs, Responsible Alcohol Retailing, Scottish Licensing Law, underage sales | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

How do I get a licence to sell alcohol?

“How do I get a licence to sell alcohol?” is one of the most frequently asked questions we get on this blog! The answer is quite simple: to sell alcohol by retail in England, Wales and Scotland, you will require a personal licence, which is a personal alcohol licence granted to an individual. You also require the premises where the alcohol is sold from to hold a premises licence. A premises must have a valid premises licence if the sale is to be made to the general public (retail sale of alcohol). The premises licence must also have a personal licence holder nominated on to the premises licence as the person responsible for that licensed premises. This person is known as the (DPS) or designated premises supervisor (licensee).

To obtain a personal licence allowing you to sell alcohol or become a (DPS) or designated premises supervisor (licensee), you are required to obtain a licensing qualification. There are currently two licensing qualifications for England, Wales and Scotland, these are as follows:

  • Award for Personal Licence Holders (APLH) Level 2 (England & Wales)
  • Scottish Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (SCPLH) Level 5 (Scotland)
The old licensing qualification for England & Wales was known as the National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) Level 2. This licensing qualification became invalid on 1st April 2010. However, the NCPLH is still acceptable to apply for a personal licence to sell alcohol.
A personal licence is granted by a local council’s Licensing Authority or in Scotland by a Licensing Board. Once granted a personal licence is valid for ten years. The only person who can object to the grant of a personal licence is the Chief Officer of Police. An objection to a personal licence is based on whether the individual applying has any relevant criminal convictions.
For information on national training courses for alcohol licensing please contact www.personallicencetraining.co.uk or call Licensing on: 01527 544 780
We hope this answers some of your questions on “How do I get a licence to sell alcohol?”
by admin Posted on November 9, 2011
Posted in Personal Licence | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Scottish government reintroduces alcohol pricing bill

Plans to reintroduce a minimum price for a unit of alcohol in Scotland have been announced.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said it was important that Scotland’s “battle with alcohol misuse” was tackled.

Official figures have suggested Scots drink more than people in other parts of the UK.

A first attempt by the SNP to push through a similar price proposal failed during the last parliament.

MSPs rejected the idea before the May election, but after the SNP’s majority win at that poll this fresh plan is set to become law before next summer.

At this stage, the Scottish government has not fixed a unit price.

During the first attempt to bring forward the legislation, the SNP minority government proposed setting the minimum price at 45p per unit.

That would have resulted in;

  • an own-brand bottle of vodka increasing in price from from £8.35 to £11.85
  • a two-litre bottle of cider going up from £1.20 to £3.75
  • and the cost of a bottle of wine moving from £3.75 to £4.20

A unit figure will be suggested in the new year after research by the University of Sheffield, which is re-running its minimum price modelling to produce the most up-to-date data.

Full story here : BBC

by Jeremy Posted on November 1, 2011
Posted in News, Scottish Licensing Law, SCPLH | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Challenge 25 proving to be a challenge?

O.K., we are all behind the challenge 25 ruling, after all it is designed to stop alcohol sales to under 18’s, but some confused retailers are taking the ruling to a rather odd extreme. There are stories of large chains of shops refusing the sale of alcohol to pensioners….

In one example A One Stop shop refused to sell a Woman of 92 a bottle of whiskey because she couldn’t prove she was over 18 (Despite carrying her free bus pass and a blood donors card). The full story can be read here.

In another case an 87 year old man was asked at a Morrisons checkout to prove he was over 21 in order to buy a bottle of sherry (full story here).  Sounds like a scene involving Victor Meldrew….

To be clear identification is only required if the buyer looks under 25, and not in every case (hence the name Challenge 25!). So come on guys, let the old folk have their daily tipple!

More information about Challenge 25 can be found here.

by Jeremy Posted on October 28, 2011
Posted in Alcohol Licence Law, challenge 25, News, Scottish Licensing Law, underage sales | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Challenge 25 or Challenge 21 What is the best policy for retailers of alcohol?

Recent changes in Scottish licensing law have seen a blanket challenge 25 policy adopted throughout Scotland. So what should UK retailers of alcohol be doing? This article may help you decide whats best for your business!

Deciding which is the best challenge policy for your business can be a difficult choice, however we advise that for high street retailers such as an off licence businesses or a mini market, challenge 25 is the best policy and one that is adopted by most of the big supermarket chains. Pubs and bars tend to stick with challenge 21 but not all in some areas many bars and pubs are now choosing to operate a challenge 25 policy.

So lets try and explain the difference! with challenge 21 you only have a 3 years between the age of 18 and 21, but with the challenge 25 policy the gap is 7 years, therefore staff are less likely to make a mistake when asking for proof of age. An unauthorised sale of alcohol to a trading standards test purchaser will lead to an on the spot fine for the person involved and an interview under caution at the local police station or trading standards office which may also then lead to a criminal prosecution in Magistrates Court.

The maximum fine under the licensing Act 2003 for selling alcohol to an underage person is currently £5,000
Another concideration for retailers to be aware of is Section 147A of the licensing Act 2003 “persistently selling alcohol to children”

Section 147A makes it an offence to sell alcohol to a child under 18 from the same premises on two or more occasions within a period of three consecutive months. The section applies to the person being responsible in relation to the premises at the time of each sale.

It should be noted that there is an alternative to criminal prosecution for the offence of persistently selling alcohol to children. Under section 169 A of the Licensing Act 2003, a closure notice may be given where there is evidence that an offence under section 147A is committed, there is considered to be a realistic prospect of conviction and the offender is still a holder of a premises licence in relation to the relevant premises. A closure notice shall propose a prohibition on sales of alcohol on the relevant premises not to exceed 48 hours. The form of a closure notice is prescribed in The Licensing Act 2003 (Persistent Selling of Alcohol to Children) (Prescribed Form of Closure Notice) Regulations 2007, which came into force on 3 May 2007.
A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level £10,000.

You can download a free “Challenge 25 Poster” by clicking here

by admin Posted on October 28, 2011
Posted in News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

scottish under 25 posters

We have been ask to provide a high resolution image of the new Challenge 25 poster for Scotland. Great news we have it available now so you can download a print for FREE

Many thanks to Personal Licence Scotland.com and the team at Personal licence training Ltd for letting us get a FREE copy!

Click to DOWNLOAD:  CHALLENGE 25 POSTER

For more infomation on Scottish licensing laws visit:

www.personallicencescotland.com

by admin Posted on October 21, 2011
Posted in Alcohol Licence Law, challenge 25, Pubs, Scottish Licensing Law, SCPLH, underage sales | Tagged | Leave a comment

MCAT and Miaow Drugs on licensed premises

MCAT KETor Miaow What is it?

Mcat or Miaow as it is widely known on the club scene is a drug that is finding it’s way in to UK clubs, bars and pubs. The drug is a stimulant similar to amphetamines or uppers as they where known back in the sixties. this article will hopefully give you a better understanding of the drug and the signs to look for with users.

Mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) is a stimulant which is closely chemically related to amphetamines. Users report that mephedrone produces a similar experience to drugs like amphetamines, ecstasy or cocaine. Mephedrone is a white, off-white or yellowish powder which is usually snorted, but can also be swallowed in bombs (wraps of paper) and may also appear in pill or capsule form.

Mephedrone is probably the most well known of a group of drugs derived from cathinone (the same chemical found in the plant called khat) although two other compounds are also increasingly recognised on the market. These are methedrone and methylone. The effects of methedrone are said to be broadly similar to mephedrone, although methylone is said to give the user an experience more closely related to taking the class A drug ecstasy.

All cathinone derivatives, including mephedrone, methylone, methedrone and MDPV are Class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. It is illegal to be in possession of the drugs and to sell them. The substances are controlled under generic legislation i.e. all cathinone derivatives are covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Many people who have used mephedrone and similar drugs report that their experiences are similar to taking amphetamines, ecstasy or cocaine, producing a sense of euphoria and wellbeing, with users becoming more alert, confident and talkative. People who have used methylone, which is closely chemically related to ecstasy, particularly report a feeling of empathy with those around them.

People who snort these substances can experience extremely sore nasal passages, throats and mouths, with burns or cuts caused by the chemicals sometimes leading to nose bleeds. Some people to choose to swallow the drugs instead to avoid these particular problems.

Like other stimulant drugs, the cathinone derivatives can have an impact on the heart. Some users report heart palpitations, or an irregular or racing heartbeat, which may last for some time after taking the drugs. Users can experience blurred vision, hot flushes and muscle tension, particularly in the jaw and face, and some people report that their fingers and other extremities have taken on a blueish pallor after using mephedrone. As with other stimulants, the substances tend to act as appetite suppressants. Nausea and vomiting has been reported, particularly if mixed with other drugs such as alcohol or cannabis.

by admin Posted on October 21, 2011
Posted in News, Pubs, Stories | Tagged , , | Leave a comment