Licensing Act 1964

17 Compensation fund

(1) A compensation authority shall in each year impose charges to be payable in respect of—

(a) the renewal of old on-licences for premises in their area; and

(b) the transfer of such licences and the removal of old on-licences to premises in their area, in any case where the duration of the licence is extended by the transfer or removal;

except in a year in which they certify to the Secretary of State that it is unnecessary to do so.

(2) In imposing those charges the compensation authority shall fix a sum not exceeding one hundred pounds as the maximum amount of such a charge; and the charge payable in respect of any licence shall be an amount which bears to the sum so fixed the same proportion as the charge in respect of a renewal of that licence in 1958 bore (or, as the case may be, would, if payable, have borne) to the maximum charge which was or might have been imposed in that year.

(3) Charges payable under this section on the renewal, transfer or removal of a licence shall be levied and paid together with, and as part of the duties on, the corresponding excise licence; and the Commissioners shall keep a separate account of the amount produced by the charges in the area of any compensation authority and pay the amount over in each year to the authority in accordance with rules made by the Treasury.

(4) The holder of a licence paying a charge under this section may, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, make a deduction from rent equal either to the percentage of the charge specified in Schedule 4 to this Act or to one half of the rent, whichever is the less; and a person receiving rent from which a deduction has been made under this subsection may make the same deduction from rent payable by him.

(5) The compensation authority shall pay the moneys received by them on account of charges under this section, or received by them from any other source for the payment of compensation under this Act, into a separate account under their management, in this Act referred to as the " compensation fund ".

(6) The compensation authority shall pay out of the compensation fund—

(a) the expenses of the authority in paying compensation under this Act or incurred otherwise by them in the exercise of their functions as compensation authority;

(b) such expenses of the licensing justices incurred in referring to the authority any question of the renewal, transfer or special removal of old on-licences as the compensation authority may allow;

(c) such expenses of the licensing justices incurred in the grant of new justices' on-licences as the compensation authority may allow;

and the compensation authority in the exercise of their powers shall have regard to the funds available for the purpose.

(7) The compensation authority may, with the consent of the Secretary of State, borrow on the security of the compensation fund for the purpose of paying any compensation under this Act.