Sheffield City Council – possible Late Night Levy

For just over 10 years, licensing authorities have had the ability to create a Late Night Levy system in their areas in order to charge extra fees on premises selling alcohol between midnight and 6am.

It has been reported that Green Party councillors wish to undertake a £50,000 feasibility study to investigate introducing a Late Night Levy in Sheffield. Any Levy fee payable is based on the rateable value and style of operation of a premises and can be as much as £4,440 per year for larger premises – and this is on top of the separate annual licence fee that such licensed premises must already pay to the Council. From the money raised, the licensing authority is only entitled to retain 30% with the remaining 70% going to the Police.

The introduction would likely prove very unpopular with premises that would be affected, especially as many will already be contributing financially to voluntary schemes such as the Sheffield Business Improvement District (BID).

There is also the future possibility that Late Night Levy powers will be expanded to apply to Late Night Refreshment venues as well (e.g. late night takeaways) with that Government consultation currently ongoing (see further details here).

To date, Late Night Levies have not been popular with only a small handful of Councils having introduced them and more recently some Councils have withdrawn them altogether. We will therefore keep an eye on any developments and report on them as appropriate.