Government U-turn on Recent Changes to Regulatory Easements Provided by The Business and Planning Act

We recently published an article (which can be found here) detailing the cessation of a number of measures introduced by the Business and Planning Act 2020 (“the Act”) which affected the Licensing Act 2003. Following the results of a public consultation, the Government had initially determined the following:

• premises licence holders with the permission to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises only, or with certain conditions restricting off sales, would no longer be able to automatically sell alcohol for consumption off the premises (which was a temporary relaxation introduced by the Act); and
• the number of TENs available in each calendar year would reduce back to the pre-pandemic position – i.e., from 20 to 15, with the total time covered by these notices reducing from 26 days to 21 days.

The off sales relaxation was due to cease on 30^th September 2023, with the TENs allowance reverting to the pre-pandemic position from 1^st January 2024.

The decision not to extend these provisions has seen extensive media coverage since its announcement. The measures were introduced during the pandemic to assist the hospitality industry with overcoming the financial and operational burdens they were suffering. However, many have pointed out that times are still hard for the hospitality industry and the removal of these measures could cause additional problems for many.

In response, the Government has now confirmed that the regulatory easement relating to off sales, will no longer end on the 30^th September 2023, and will now be extended until (at least) 31^st March 2025.

This means that operators with the permission to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises only or with certain conditions restricting off sales will be able to automatically sell alcohol for consumption off the premises, without the need to amend/vary their premises licence.

Whilst the Government has reversed its decision in this regard, it has confirmed that there will be no further extension to the increased TEN allowances provided by the Act and, therefore, the pre-pandemic allowances will come into force from the 1^st January 2024.

If your business is affected by any of these measures, or if you are not sure about what these changes mean, please feel free to get in touch with our specialist Licensing Team who will be happy to discuss next steps with you. Our team can be contacted on 0161 832 3434.