Government opens consultation on regulatory easements offered to the hospitality industry during the pandemic

Yesterday the UK Government opened its consultation on whether to make permanent the regulatory easements offered to the hospitality sector under the Business and Planning Act 2020 (“the BPA”). The BPA was introduced during the pandemic with the purpose of allowing the hospitality industry to operate whilst continuing to manage the risks arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

It allowed on-sale premises licence holders to automatically sell alcohol for consumption off-site without the need to amend their premises licence and it extended the number of Temporary Event Notices (TENs) available per calendar year for premises from 15 to 20, whilst also increasing the duration of a TEN from 21 to 26 days.

The government has proposed six available options in its consultation paper and welcomes comments from the public and those engaged in the hospitality industry. These options are:

For off-sales:

1. Option 1: do nothing – meaning the easements provided by the BPA will lapse on the 30 September 2023 and the position will revert back to that set out in the Licensing Act 2003. This would mean that an on-sale premises licence holder who wishes to sell alcohol for consumption off-site would need to vary its licence.
2. Option 2: make permanent the regulatory easements provided by the BPA meaning that any on-sales premises licences will automatically cover off-sales (this will be applicable for all current and future licence holders).
3. Option 3: if the venue has both an alcohol premises licence and a pavement licence, the area covered by the pavement licence will automatically be included in the plan of the licenced premises.

For TENS:

4. Option 4: do nothing – meaning the easements provided by the BPA will lapse on the 31 December 2023.
5. Option 5: Extend the easements for a further 12 months, until the 31 December 2024.
6. Option 6: make permanent the extension to the number of TENS provided by the BPA, meaning that the number of TENs available per calendar year will be 20 with a maximum duration of 26 days.

The proposals to extend the regulatory easements offered by the BPA offers a sensible step to benefit trade in the hospitality industry more generally.

If you wish to make a representation on this proposal, please submit your comments to the Alcohol Licensing Team by no later than the 1 May 2023 by completing the questionnaire published on the gov.uk website.