Licensing Act 2003

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This version of this cross heading contains provisions that are prospective.

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where the provision (Part, Chapter or section) has never come into force or;
where the text of the provision is subject to change, but no date has yet been appointed by the appropriate person or body for those changes to come into force.

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Changes to legislation:

There are outstanding changes not yet made by the legislation.gov.uk editorial team to Licensing Act 2003. Any changes that have already been made by the team appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.

Changes to Legislation

Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. Changes and effects are recorded by our editorial team in lists which can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area. Where those effects have yet to be applied to the text of the legislation by the editorial team they are also listed alongside the legislation in the affected provisions. Use the ‘more’ link to open the changes and effects relevant to the provision you are viewing.

Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Act, associated Parts and Chapters:

Changes and effects

This section lists the changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Act, associated Parts and Chapters where applicable. This includes any insertions of whole new Parts, Chapters or provisions yet to be inserted into this Act. These effects are included in this view as they may be (but won’t necessarily be) relevant to the specific provision that you are viewing.

Act modified by S.I. 2007/1118 art. 6
Act modified by S.I. 2008/2867 reg. 12(1)(a)(ii)
Blanket Amendment words substituted by 2005 c. 4 Sch. 11 para. 1(2)

Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Act (including any effects on those provisions):

s. 55A applied (with modifications) by 2011 c. 13 s. 129(6)(a)
s. 55A inserted by 2011 c. 13 s. 120(3)
s. 92A applied (with modifications) by 2011 c. 13 s. 129(6)(b)
s. 92A inserted by 2011 c. 13 s. 120(5)
s. 99A inserted by 2011 c. 13 s. 112(2)
s. 100A inserted by 2011 c. 13 s. 114(4)
s. 104A inserted by 2011 c. 13 s. 114(7)
s. 106A inserted by 2011 c. 13 s. 113(3)
s. 169A-169B inserted by 2006 c. 38 s. 24(1)
s. 169A(2)(a) words substituted by 2011 c. 13 s. 118(3)(a)
s. 169A(4) words substituted by 2011 c. 13 s. 118(3)(b)
s. 177A inserted by 2012 c. 2 s. 1(2)
s. 197A 197B inserted by 2011 c. 13 s. 121(2)

Commencement Orders yet to be applied to the Licensing Act 2003:

Commencement Orders

This section lists the commencement orders yet to be applied to the whole Act. These effects are included in this view as they may be (but won’t necessarily be) relevant to the specific provision that you are viewing. Where applicable the commencement orders are listed under two headings, firstly those that bring some part of the Act you are viewing into force and secondly, those that bring into force legislation that affects some part of the legislation you are viewing. If you are viewing a prospective version or there is a prospective version available there may be commencement orders listed here that are relevant to the provision you are viewing.

Commencement Orders bringing provisions within this Act into force:

S.I. 2003/1911 art. 2 commences (2003 c. 17)
S.I. 2003/2100 art. 2 commences (2003 c. 17)
S.I. 2003/3222 art. 2 commences (2003 c. 17)
S.I. 2004/1738 art. 2 commences (2003 c. 17)
S.I. 2004/2360 art. 2 Sch. commences (2003 c. 17)
S.I. 2005/2090 art. 2 Sch. commences (2003 c. 17)
S.I. 2005/2091 art. 2 commences (2003 c. 17)
S.I. 2005/3056 art. 2 3 commences (2003 c. 17)

Commencement Orders bringing legislation that affects this Act into force:

S.I. 2004/2304 art. 2 commences (2004 c. 21)
S.I. 2004/2917 art. 2 commences (2004 c. 21)
S.I. 2005/3175 art. 2 3 commences (2004 c. 33)
S.I. 2005/3495 art. 2 commences (2005 c. 15)
S.I. 2006/378 art. 2-7 Sch. commences (2005 c. 15)
S.I. 2006/3200 art. 2 commences (2006 c. 35)
S.I. 2006/3272 art. 2 Sch. 1-3 commences (2005 c. 19)
S.I. 2007/858 art. 2 3 commences (2006 c. 38)
S.I. 2007/1157 art. 2-12 Sch. 1 2 amendment to earlier commencing SI 2006/3272
S.I. 2007/1897 art. 2 commences (2005 c. 9)
S.I. 2007/2169 art. 2 amendment to earlier commencing SI 2006/3272
S.I. 2007/2180 art. 2-4 commences (2006 c. 38)
S.I. 2007/3155 art. 2 commences (2005 c. 19)
S.I. 2008/3267 art. 2 commences (2006 c. 50)
S.I. 2009/1604 art. 2 commences (2005 c. 4)
S.I. 2009/2648 art. 3 amendment to earlier commencing SI 2008/3267
S.I. 2009/3250 art. 2 commences (2007 c. 29)
S.I. 2010/125 art. 2-4 commences (2009 c. 26)
S.I. 2010/722 art. 3 commences (2009 c. 26)
S.I. 2010/999 art. 2-4 commences (2009 c. 26)
S.I. 2010/1375 art. 2 3 commences (2009 c. 26)
S.I. 2010/1942 art. 2 amendment to earlier commencing SI 2008/3267
S.I. 2011/1725 Sch. para. 6 amendment to earlier commencing SI 2008/3267
S.I. 2011/3019 art. 3 Sch. 1 Comencement Order
S.S.I. 2007/472 arts. 2 3 Sch. 1 2 commences (2005 asp 16)

Grant and renewal of licencesE+W

117Application for grant or renewal of personal licenceE+W

(1)An individual may apply—

(a)for the grant of a personal licence, or

(b)for the renewal of a personal licence held by him.

(2)An application for the grant of a personal licence—

(a)must, if the applicant is ordinarily resident in the area of a licensing authority, be made to that authority, and

(b)may, in any other case, be made to any licensing authority.

(3)An application for the renewal of a personal licence must be made to the relevant licensing authority.

(4)Where the application is for renewal of a personal licence, the application must be accompanied by the personal licence or, if that is not practicable, by a statement of the reasons for the failure to provide the licence.

(5)Subsection (1) is subject to regulations under section 133 (form etc. of applications and notices under this Part).

(6)An application for renewal may be made only during the period of two months beginning three months before the time the licence would expire in accordance with section 115(1) if no application for renewal were made.

118Individual permitted to hold only one personal licenceE+W

(1)An individual who makes an application for the grant of a personal licence under section 117 (“the initial application”) may not make another such application until the initial application has been determined by the licensing authority to which it was made or has been withdrawn.

(2)A personal licence is void if, at the time it is granted, the individual to whom it is granted already holds a personal licence.

119Licence continued pending renewalE+W

(1)Where—

(a)an application for renewal is made in accordance with section 117, and

(b)the application has not been determined before the time the licence would, in the absence of this section, expire,

then, by virtue of this section, the licence continues to have effect for the period beginning with that time and ending with the determination or withdrawal of the application.

(2)Subsection (1) is subject to section 115(3) and (4) (revocation, forfeiture and suspension) and section 116 (surrender).

120Determination of application for grantE+W

(1)This section applies where an application for the grant of a personal licence is made to a licensing authority in accordance with section 117.

(2)The authority must grant the licence if it appears to it that—

(a)the applicant is aged 18 or over,

(b)he possesses a licensing qualification or is a person of a prescribed description,

(c)no personal licence held by him has been forfeited in the period of five years ending with the day the application was made, and

(d)he has not been convicted of any relevant offence or any foreign offence.

(3)The authority must reject the application if it appears to it that the applicant fails to meet the condition in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of subsection (2).

(4)If it appears to the authority that the applicant meets the conditions in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of that subsection but fails to meet the condition in paragraph (d) of that subsection, the authority must give the chief officer of police for its area a notice to that effect.

(5)Where, having regard to—

(a)any conviction of the applicant for a relevant offence, and

(b)any conviction of his for a foreign offence which the chief officer of police considers to be comparable to a relevant offence,

the chief officer of police is satisfied that granting the licence would undermine the crime prevention objective, he must, within the period of 14 days beginning with the day he received the notice under subsection (4), give the authority a notice stating the reasons why he is so satisfied (an “objection notice”).

(6)Where no objection notice is given within that period (or the notice is withdrawn), the authority must grant the application.

(7)In any other case, the authority—

(a)must hold a hearing to consider the objection notice, unless the applicant, the chief officer of police and the authority agree that it is unnecessary, and

(b)having regard to the notice, must—

(i)reject the application if it considers it necessary for the promotion of the crime prevention objective to do so, and

(ii)grant the application in any other case.

(8)In this section “licensing qualification” means—

(a)a qualification—

(i)accredited at the time of its award, and

(ii)awarded by a body accredited at that time,

(b)a qualification awarded before the coming into force of this section which the Secretary of State certifies is to be treated for the purposes of this section as if it were a qualification within paragraph (a), or

(c)a qualification obtained in Scotland or Northern Ireland or in an EEA State (other than the United Kingdom) which is equivalent to a qualification within paragraph (a) or (b).

(9)For this purpose—

“accredited” means accredited by the Secretary of State; and
“EEA State” means a state which is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992, as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993.

Annotations:

Annotations are used to give authority for changes and other effects on the legislation you are viewing and to convey editorial information. They appear at the foot of the relevant provision or under the associated heading. Annotations are categorised by annotation type, such as F-notes for textual amendments and I-notes for commencement information (a full list can be found in the Editorial Practice Guide). Each annotation is identified by a sequential reference number. For F-notes, M-notes and X-notes, the number also appears in bold superscript at the relevant location in the text. All annotations contain links to the affecting legislation.

Commencement Information

I1S. 120 wholly in force at 7.2.2005; s. 120 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 201; s. 120(2)(b) in force at 16.12.2003 by S.I. 2003/3222, art. 2, Sch.; s. 120(1)(2)(a)(c)(d)(3)-(9) in force at 7.2.2005 by S.I. 2004/2360, art. 2, Sch.

Prospective

121Determination of application for renewalE+W

(1)This section applies where an application for the renewal of a personal licence is made to the relevant licensing authority in accordance with section 117.

(2)If it appears to the authority that the applicant has been convicted of any relevant offence or foreign offence since the relevant time, the relevant licensing authority must give notice to that effect to the chief officer of police for its area.

(3)Where, having regard to—

(a)any conviction of the applicant for a relevant offence, and

(b)any conviction of his for a foreign offence which the chief officer of police considers to be comparable to a relevant offence,

the chief officer of police is satisfied that renewing the licence would undermine the crime prevention objective, he must, within the period of 14 days beginning with the day he received the notice under subsection (2), give the authority a notice stating the reasons why he is so satisfied (an “objection notice”).

(4)For the purposes of subsection (3)(a) and (b) it is irrelevant whether the conviction occurred before or after the relevant time.

(5)Where no objection notice is given within that period (or any such notice is withdrawn), the authority must grant the application.

(6)In any other case, the authority—

(a)must hold a hearing to consider the objection notice unless the applicant, the chief officer of police and the authority agree that it is unnecessary, and

(b)having regard to the notice, must—

(i)reject the application if it considers it necessary for the promotion of the crime prevention objective to do so, and

(ii)grant the application in any other case.

(7)In this section “the relevant time” means—

(a)if the personal licence has not been renewed since it was granted, the time it was granted, and

(b)if it has been renewed, the last time it was renewed.

122Notification of determinationsE+W

(1)Where a licensing authority grants an application—

(a)it must give the applicant and the chief officer of police for its area a notice to that effect, and

(b)if the chief officer of police gave an objection notice (which was not withdrawn), the notice under paragraph (a) must contain a statement of the licensing authority’s reasons for granting the application.

(2)A licensing authority which rejects an application must give the applicant and the chief officer of police for its area a notice to that effect containing a statement of the authority’s reasons for rejecting the application.

(3)In this section—

“application” means an application for the grant or renewal of a personal licence; and
“objection notice” has the meaning given in section 120 or 121, as the case may be.

123Duty to notify licensing authority of convictions during application periodE+W

(1)Where an applicant for the grant or renewal of a personal licence is convicted of a relevant offence or a foreign offence during the application period, he must as soon as reasonably practicable notify the conviction to the authority to which the application is made.

(2)A person commits an offence if he fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with subsection (1).

(3)A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

(4)In this section “the application period” means the period that—

(a)begins when the application for grant or renewal is made, and

(b)ends when the application is determined or withdrawn.

124Convictions coming to light after grant or renewalE+W

(1)This section applies where, after a licensing authority has granted or renewed a personal licence, it becomes aware (whether by virtue of section 123(1), 131 or 132 or otherwise) that the holder of a personal licence (“the offender”) was convicted during the application period of any relevant offence or foreign offence.

(2)The licensing authority must give a notice to that effect to the chief officer of police for its area.

(3)Where, having regard to—

(a)any conviction of the applicant for a relevant offence, and

(b)any conviction of his for a foreign offence which the chief officer of police considers to be comparable to a relevant offence,

which occurred before the end of the application period, the chief officer of police is satisfied that continuation of the licence would undermine the crime prevention objective, he must, within the period of 14 days beginning with the day he received the notice under subsection (2), give the authority a notice stating the reasons why he is so satisfied (an “objection notice”).

(4)Where an objection notice is given within that period (and not withdrawn), the authority—

(a)must hold a hearing to consider the objection notice, unless the holder of the licence, the chief officer of police and the authority agree it is unnecessary, and

(b)having regard to the notice, must revoke the licence if it considers it necessary for the promotion of the crime prevention objective to do so.

(5)Where the authority revokes or decides not to revoke a licence under subsection (4) it must notify the offender and the chief officer of police of the decision and its reasons for making it.

(6)A decision under this section does not have effect—

(a)until the end of the period given for appealing against the decision, or

(b)if the decision is appealed against, until the appeal is disposed of.

(7)In this section “application period”, in relation to the grant or renewal of a personal licence, means the period that—

(a)begins when the application for the grant or renewal is made, and

(b)ends at the time of the grant or renewal.

125Form of personal licenceE+W

(1)Where a licensing authority grants a personal licence, it must forthwith issue the applicant with the licence.

(2)The licence must—

(a)specify the holder’s name and address, and

(b)identify the licensing authority which granted it.

(3)It must also contain a record of each relevant offence and each foreign offence of which the holder has been convicted, the date of each conviction and the sentence imposed in respect of it.

(4)Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the licence must be in the prescribed form.

Annotations:

Commencement Information

I2S. 125 wholly in force at 7.2.2005; s. 125 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 201; s. 125(4) in force at 16.12.2003 by S.I. 2003/3222, art. 2, Sch.; s. 125(1)-(3) in force at 7.2.2005 by S.I. 2004/2360, art. 2, Sch.

126Theft, loss, etc. of personal licenceE+W

(1)Where a personal licence is lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed, the holder of the licence may apply to the relevant licensing authority for a copy of the licence.

(2)Subsection (1) is subject to regulations under section 133(2) (power to prescribe fee to accompany application).

(3)Where the relevant licensing authority receives an application under this section, it must issue the licence holder with a copy of the licence (certified by the authority to be a true copy) if it is satisfied that—

(a)the licence has been lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed, and

(b)where it has been lost or stolen, the holder of the licence has reported the loss or theft to the police.

(4)The copy issued under this section must be a copy of the licence in the form in which it existed immediately before it was lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed.

(5)This Act applies in relation to a copy issued under this section as it applies in relation to an original licence.

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Licensing Act 2003

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Commencement Orders

Grant and renewal of licencesE+W

117Application for grant or renewal of personal licenceE+W

118Individual permitted to hold only one personal licenceE+W

119Licence continued pending renewalE+W

120Determination of application for grantE+W

121Determination of application for renewalE+W

122Notification of determinationsE+W

123Duty to notify licensing authority of convictions during application periodE+W

124Convictions coming to light after grant or renewalE+W

125Form of personal licenceE+W

126Theft, loss, etc. of personal licenceE+W

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