Liquor Personal Licence Holders - Renew Now
If your personal licence was issued on or before 1 September 2009, this applies to you and you need to act now!
Read the Renewal FAQs NowKey dates:
● 31 May 2019 – absolute deadline for submitting your personal licence renewal application, but if you leave it this late you risk losing your licence.
● 1 September 2019 – expiry date for personal licences granted up to 1 September 2009.
Personal Licence Holders have a vital job within the licensed trade. They authorise the sale of alcohol in both on and off sales businesses and ensure that each and every sale is legal. This is a considerable responsibility and, as such, Personal Licence Holders have two important obligations:
● They must undergo refresher training every 5 years to refresh their knowledge of the licensing regime, and send the training certificate to the Moray Council Licensing service; AND
● They must apply to renew their personal licence every ten years, and lodge the renewal application no later than 3 months before expiry date of the licence.
What do I need to do now?
Complete a refresher training course and then send the certificate to Moray Council Licensing service along with the renewal application, payment, current personal licence and a certified photo to licensing@moray.gov.uk
When should I apply for the refresher training?
There is likely to be high demand for the half-day refresher training as we approach the refresher and renewal deadlines. Personal Licence Holders are, therefore, recommended to book a place on the refresher training now to ensure that this is completed ahead of the 5 year refresh deadline and the deadline for submitting renewal applications. Remember that training bodies may take some time to produce your training certificate and you cannot complete the renewal and refresher process without it.
The half-day refresher training course is the appropriate course to take for both the requirement to undertake updated refresher training after five years and the requirement to apply to renew your licence.
When should I apply for my 10 year renewal?
If your personal licence is due for renewal on 1 September 2019, the absolute deadline for submitting a personal licence renewal application is 31 May 2019.
However, leaving it this late puts you at a real risk of losing your licence. To date Moray Council have only received approximately 18% of renewal applications for personal licences which will expire on 1 September 2019, therefore it is imperative that with such a narrow window to consider applications that you book on your course now and submit your renewal application along with your new training certificate, payment and certified photo as soon as possible.
If a lot of applications come in at the last minute then yours may not be approved in time.
What happens if you don’t do this in time?
If you do not undergo refresher training AND provide the updated certificate while renewing your personal licence, your personal licence will expire on the expiry date and so cease to have effect. If your personal licence expires you will need to submit a brand new licence application which could take several weeks or months to process. If you have to apply for a new personal licence then the Licensing Board may hold a hearing where a personal licence has expired or been surrendered within the previous three years.
What happens if I cannot get booked onto a refresher training course in time?
You will not be able to renew and refresh your personal licence.
What happens if I apply for renewal of my personal licence in the three months before expiry?
You will have left it too late, and the Licensing Board will not be able to renew your licence.
What happens if a premises manager’s personal licence ceases to have effect?
If a designated premises manager’s (i.e. a person named on a licence as the day to day manager) personal licence ceases to have effect, notice must be given to the relevant Licensing Board by the premises licence holder (rather than the outgoing designated premises manager) within 7 days of that happening, in order to activate a 6 week window where alcohol can still be sold to allow time for another person with a valid licence to be named. If that notice is not given by the premises licence holder within 7 days of that happening, alcohol sales must cease until such time as a new premises manager with a valid personal licence is named. If the 6-week period passes with no new manager being named, then alcohol sales must cease until such time as a new manager with a valid personal licence is named. See FAQ 3 for further details.
If this affects you, you are strongly advised to seek independent legal advice.
Will there be a form or a fee?
The renewal form is the standard personal licence application form, available on the Moray Council website: http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_88465.html
There are relevant sections to complete if your application is a renewal. A training certificate must accompany the application, as well as the fee and a certified photo.