Section 212: Fees
535.At a number of sections in this Part, provision is made for fees to be payable to licensing authorities, and for those fees to be set by the Secretary of State, or Scottish Ministers. Under this section, the Secretary of State may devolve to licensing authorities in England and Wales the freedom to set fees for premises licence applications relating to their area, subject to any constraints specified in the regulations.
536.Where licensing authorities are given power to determine a fee:
they may set different fees for different classes of case specified in the regulations e.g. for different types of licence (but not otherwise); and
they must aim to ensure that the income from the fees they set equals (as nearly as possible) the costs of providing the particular services to which the fee relates. In determining whether this cost recovery principle is being met, licensing authorities may make a comparison between costs and fees over whatever period it considers to be appropriate. The Secretary of State may issue guidance to licensing authorities on the appropriate periods for comparison. Where she does so, the licensing authority must take account of that guidance.
537.This permits the Secretary of State to set bands of minimum or maximum fees, within which a licensing authority can set its individual charges. Alternatively, the Secretary of State can give an authority complete discretion to set its own fees, subject always to the cost recovery principle.
538.Regulations under this section need not apply to all licensing authorities in England and Wales and may, in particular, apply only to categories of authority. In England, such categorisation could be achieved by reference to categories assigned under section 99 of the Local Government Act 2003 (c.26) (Comprehensive Performance Assessment).
539.This section does not apply to Scotland.
