Licensed Premises Face Closure

Many licensed premises face being closed on September 1 when new licensing laws come into force under The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. Under the new law anyone involved in the sale of alcohol in pubs, clubs, hotels and off-sales must hold a new “personal licence”. Thousands of staff may miss meeting the deadline to comply with the Act. It is estimated that around half of licensed premises in Scotland have still not arranged the necessary training, examination and certification for their staff.

They have less than three months to go through the process of arranging the training, examinations and applying for the personal licences which includes a police check being carried out as to the individual's suitability to hold a personal licence.

Licensing Boards will have no option but to close premises which are found to be operating from September 1 without a personal licence holder. And they will remain closed until their appeal (if any) is heard by the Board.

The training involves a one-day course covering key aspects of responsibility, including dealing with drunkenness, preventing crime and disorder, rights of entry and advice on underage drinking. This is followed by a 40-question multiple-choice exam. Staff can then apply for their Scottish Certificate for Personal Licence Holders, which costs £50. Following a police check, the certificate is then issued by the Licensing Board.

There will of course be those premises which no longer require a licence because they have or are either closing or because the turnover does not justify applying for a new licence.



Disclaimer: the contents of this blog are not intended form the basis of legal advice. Independent legal advice should be taken from your own solicitor for all cases.

Annual Leave on Sick Leave

The long awaited decision in Stringer v HMRC has been made today by the House of Lords in favour of employees, overturning the previous Court of Appeal decision in this case.

It has been unanimously held that a claim for unpaid holiday or a payment on termination of employment are both unauthorised deduction claims. As a result of this decision employees can benefit from the longer time limits which apply to unlawful deduction claims which can be made within three months of the last in a series of deductions - that would allow a claim to go back more than three months if the underpayments were part of a series.

In a previous ECJ decision a member state could allow an employee on sick leave to take annual leave or could prevent the employee taking leave while off sick but only so long as the employee had the right to carry over holidays to following year/s if he or she was unable to take leave because of illness. The ECJ had also held that compensation payments on termination should not be discounted on account of sickness.

Disclaimer: the contents of this blog are not intended form the basis of legal advice. Independent legal advice should be taken from your own solicitor for all cases.

Health & Safety Executive - New Strategy Launched

The new HSE strategy Be Part of the Solution has been finalised following a three-month consultation programme, with events held across the country. It is hoped that it will reduce the number of workplace accidents, dispel myths about health and safety and promote a common sense approach to ensuring that risk management is an enabler for business, not a burden. In addition to preventing accidents, 65% of employees say that good health and safety practices make them feel valued.

The recession could make some workplaces more dangerous, as more than a quarter of business leaders say that that their organisation will face pressure to cut spending on health and safety this year. This is not only potentially dangerous but could also be bad for business; nearly eight in ten business leaders acknowledge that good health and safety standards are beneficial. In part this is because the cost of preventing accidents is almost always less than the costs associated with an accident once it happens.

Almost half of Britain’s workers know someone who has been injured at work, yet the actual rate of deaths and serious injuries is greatly underestimated. On average, employees think that 3,000 people were killed or seriously injured at work last year, but the true number is 136,000 – more than 45 times higher.

Judith Hackitt, CBE, HSE Chair, said "We believe this strategy represents a clear statement of core principles and a sensible approach to health and safety in Great Britain. Whilst the economic climate is difficult and the temptation for some may be to cut corners, HSE, its partners and businesses must resolve to continue to strive to improve health and safety performance."

Disclaimer: the contents of this blog are not intended form the basis of legal advice. Independent legal advice should be taken from your own solicitor for all cases.

Lack of Licensing Applications by Pubs & Hotels

The Scottish Beer & Pub Association have revealed that at least a fifth of pubs and hotels in Scotland have not lodged their licensing applications.

Under the Licensing Act 2005, licensees had to apply for a new premises licence in order to be able to sell alcohol by January 16. 3,100 of the anticipated 16,306 applications, which should have been lodged in the first 12 months of the licensing transition were not received. The Association believes that is because the cost and complexity of the new Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 has discouraged pubs from doing so, and because a large number of premises have already ceased trading. Moray, the Shetland Islands and Orkney had the largest number of pubs failing to submit applications.

It will however only be on 1 September this year that a full assessment can be made of how many hotels and pubs have actually made the transition.


Disclaimer: the contents of this blog are not intended form the basis of legal advice. Independent legal advice should be taken from your own solicitor for all cases.