Guidance for Personal Licence Holders
As a Personal Licence holder under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, there are a number of obligations incumbent upon you. These are set out below as a guide. Should you require any further detailed advice, please contact, Licensing, Room 229, Viewforth, Stirling, FK8 2ET
Period of Effect of Personal Licence
Your Personal Licence shall last for a period of 10 years beginning on the date when the licence was issued or first came into effect, e.g. a licence issued before the 1st of September 2009, would still expire on 1st September 2019.
The Licensing Board will give you notice no later than 3 months before the expiry date of your Personal Licence to advise you that the licence will expire on the last date unless renewed by you.
Duty to Notify Court of Personal Licence
If you are charged with a relevant or foreign offence whilst holding a Personal Licence you must, no later than your first appearance in Court, produce to the Court a Personal Licence or if that is not practicable, notify the Court of the existence of the Personal Licence the identity of the Licensing Board which issued the licence and the reasons why it is not practicable to produce the licence.
It is an offence to fail to comply with this requirement.
Licence Holder’s Duty to Notify Licensing Board of Convictions
If you are convicted of a relevant or foreign offence, you are required, not later than one month after the date of conviction to give notice of that conviction to the Licensing Board which issued the Personal Licence held by you and, if different, the Licensing Board for the area in which are situated any licensed premises in which you are working.
The notice, which you send to the Licensing Board, must specify:
(a) The nature of the offence
(b) The date of the conviction and
(c) be accompanied by the Personal Licence or where that is not practicable a statement of reasons for failure to produce that licence.
It is offence to fail to notify the Licensing Board of your conviction for a relevant or foreign offence.
In the event that you are charged with or convicted of an offence and wish to clarify whether this is a relevant offence please contact the Licensing Team or the Court where your case is being heard.
Licence Holder’s Duty to Undertake Training
You must, not later than three months after the expiry of the period of five years beginning with the date on which your licence was issued and then each subsequent period of five years for which the licence has effect, produce to the Licensing Board which issued the licence evidence that you have complied with during that period the requirements as to the training for Personal Licence holders.
Which means you must take refresher Personal Licence holder training every 5 years.
You will receive notification of the expiry of each five-year period from the Licensing Board that issued your Personal Licence. That Licensing Board must, no later than three months before the expiry of each five year period, give you notice of the requirement imposed upon you to produce training not later than three months after the expiry of that period.
Which means you have a period of 6 months (notification date which is three months before the 5 year date, then three months after) to undertake training to notify the Board with a copy of your new training accreditation.
Notification of Change of Name or Address
You must, not later than one month after a change of your name and/or address, give the Licensing Board, which issued your licence notice of the change.
A notice to the Licensing Board intimating the name and/or address must be accompanied by the personal Licence or if that is not practicable then with a statement of reasons for failure to produce the Personal Licence. The appropriate fee must also be paid.
You are advised that failure to notify the Licensing Board of any change of name and/or address within the period of one month of the change taking place is an offence.
You should pay particular attention to this notification requirement. You will notice that for example with regard to the training duties/obligations placed upon you in terms of the Personal Licence, there is accompanying requirements on the Licensing Board to notify you; however if you fail to notify the Board of a change of your name and/or address and therefore fail to undertake refresher training etc as notified by the Licensing Board, the explanation of not receiving the correspondence would not be an excuse.
Duty to Produce Licence
You are advised that a Police Officer or Licensing Standards Officer can request you to produce your Personal Licence for examination at any time whilst you are on licensed premises. It is recommended that you retain your Personal Licence at any premises at which you work.