Six things pubs need to know about temporary event notices - TENs

09-Sep-2012 - Last updated on 10-Sep-2012 at 08:58 GMT

We all know what the basic limits are for temporary event notices (TENs). Simple, right? Not necessarily — when the ravenous monster that is the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRSR) came into force, some things changed for the better and some things for the worse.

Here we briefly deal with the main changes made by the Act.

Objections
Since April 2012 the environmental health officer, as well as the police, is able to object to a TEN, and both authorities can object on any of the licensing objectives, not just crime prevention. If you get past these substantial hurdles, you’re likely to have any relevant conditions on your premises licence imposed on your TEN too. In other words, obtaining a TEN is getting a good deal harder.

Event period
But it is not all bad news: the maximum period allowed for a single event is changing from 96 hours to 168 (a full week), and the aggregate maximum number of days from 15 to 21. You will still only be able to have 12 TENs per premises, but those TENs can last in total for an extra six days. However, this only applies to TENs “given on or after” the dates when the Act comes into effect.

Late notice
Help is also at hand for those TENs that for one reason or another were forgotten. Issue of a TEN to the licensing authority, police and environmental health officer with at least 10 clear working days notice was mandatory (and still is). However, a new ‘late notice’ has been introduced, which will enable the operator to issue a TEN not later than five days before and no earlier than nine days before the event is due to occur.

Providing a copy
The mandatory requirements to provide a copy for the licensing authority, police and environmental health officer at the date of issue continue to apply.

Hearings
While a hearing will be scheduled for a ‘standard’ TEN, if one or more of the responsible authorities issue an objection to a ‘late notice’, the timing of the late notice is such that a hearing is not possible and if the objection has been received by way of a ‘counter notice’ from the licensing authority, then the event may not proceed.

Personal licence holders
Personal licence holders may issue up to 50 temporary event notices, or 10 late temporary event notices in respect of the same year. Non-personal licence holders may continue to issue up to five temporary event notices and a further two late temporary event notices in respect of events to be held in the same year.