Scottish Government to introduce £50.00 personal licence renewal fee

Following a consultation, the Scottish government has decided to introduce a fee of £50.00 for applying to renew a personal licence.

The Licensing (Fees) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2018 will come into force on 01 October 2018 and this article will help you to understand the changes, how they will affect Scottish licensees and how to mitigate the risks that these changes pose.

What has changed?

Prior to this change introduced by the Scottish Government, there had been a fee in place for initial personal licence applications, but not for renewals. There will now be a charge of £50.00 for each renewal application, which is the same amount charged for the grant of a personal licence.

When does the new Scottish personal licensing renewal fee come into effect?

The £50.00 renewal fee will only be payable for personal licence renewal applications received by Licensing Boards after 17:00 hours on 01 October 2018. Therefore renewal applications made prior to 01 October 2018 will not be subject to the £50.00 fee.

What does the new £50.00 Scottish personal licence renewal fee mean to Scottish landlords?

This comes at a time when Licensing Boards are expecting a high number of renewal applications as personal licence holders who obtained their personal licences in 2009 will need to submit a renewal application and complete refresher training between 01 September 2018 and 31 May 2019.

If you fail to renew your personal licence, your original one will expire on 01 September 2019 and you will cease to be eligible to hold the position of designated premises manager.

Business groups such as the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) have raised concerns that the introduction of a fee to renew personal licences could discourage some retailers that have multiple personal licence holders from renewing them, which could result in fewer qualified licence holders working in each store.