Licensing Act delayed again

The government has failed to keep its promise on the implementation of the new Licensing Act.

The trade is still waiting for the guidance and fees to be passed by Parliament. This is despite government assurances last year that the guidance and fees would be published when the bill received Royal Assent in July.

It is now looking increasingly unlikely that the guidance, which will outline the procedures for local authorities, will be passed before the end of the year.

The guidance will outline the procedures that local authorities must follow in administering the new licensing laws as well as outlining the responsibilities of the licensed trade.

The delay means publicans and local authorities are unsure of what they should be doing to meet the requirements of the act and what plans they need to put in place to meet both the bureaucratic and financial burdens.

Licensee Pete Harrison, of the Unicorn Inn, in Leek, Staffordshire, said: "We have spoken to our local authority and it has no information from central government. Nobody knows when we are supposed to be putting business plans in. We are blind and nobody has seen the guidance."

Richard Williams, from The Publican's legal team at Joelson Wilson, said: "The government has pushed the Licensing Act through but no thought has gone into implementing it on time. The promises made about the act coming into force haven't been kept by the government."

Mark Hastings, spokesman for the British Beer & Pub Association, said: "We are frustrated by the delay and want to know why. The industry works to the tight timeframe of the government. We want to get cracking."

A poll on thePublican.com in September revealed that 41 per cent of licensees were unsure of what they should be doing, while 26 per cent were still waiting to be contacted by their local council.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "We still hope to table the guidance for consideration by Parliament in December.

"We hope to publish in draft form the majority of the statutory instruments including fees. We are on track to fully implement the Licensing Act in 2005."

Timeline​

• As soon as the guidance and fees are passed by Parliament local authorities have six months to write their policies
• Following that there will be a six-month transition period, then it will take another three to four months for all licences to be processed.