Breaking News - Personal licence renewals - no more!

Following the laying of a Commencement Order before Parliament, we are pleased at last to be able to confirm that any personal licence falling for renewal in England and Wales on or after 1 April 2015 will not now require to be renewed, as the Home Office has just confirmed.

This is news for which the trade has been waiting for some time and will come as a relief to many operators.

The amendments made to the Licensing Act 2003 by the Deregulation Act 2015 also include:

• The offence of selling liqueur confectionery to children under 16 will be repealed with effect from 26 May 2015. After that date a person of any age can buy liqueur confectionery in England and Wales.
• The requirement to report lost or stolen licences to the police before applying for duplicates will be abolished with effect from 26 May 2015.
• The limit on the number of temporary events that can be held at single premises will increase from 12 to 15 per year from 1 January 2016.

The Community and Ancillary Sales Notice and the changes to Late Night Refreshment licensing require secondary legislation and ran out of parliamentary time to make the required regulations.  It will be up to the new Government to decide how to take these forward.