Home Office Release 2018 Licensing Statistics

Tuesday, 30 October 2018

The home office released its annual statistical year review report and found that an overall increase on various licenses being granted.

All statistics within the reported were calculated for the year ending March 31st, 2018.

There was a 5% increase, with 35,600 personal licenses being granted in England and Wales. Birmingham continues to be the licensing authorities (LA) with the highest number of personal licenses at 10,695.

Since March 31st, 2008, there has been a broadly increasing trend of premises licence being granted, having gone up from 195,800 to 212,800. The rate in which premises licences are granted is much slower than others, with only a 1% increase between 2017 and 2018. The South West of England had the highest number of premises licenses per 100,000 of the population 853, with Westminster continuing to be the LA with the highest number of premises licenses with 3,364.

Durham continues to be the LA with the highest number of club premises certificates at 231, however the overall club premises certificates being granted decreased this year. 200 certificates were permitted this year, a 1% decrease from the last year. The overall number of club premises certificates has gradually been decreasing in the last ten years going from 17,600 in 2008 to 14,100 in 2018.

Through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, Licensing authorities were given the power to introduce a late-night levy. These allow LAs to raise a contribution from late-opening alcohol suppliers towards policing the night-time economy, and the amount raised by late night levies across seven LA was around £1.7 million.

Cumulative impact areas (CIAs), an area identified as having a specifically high density of businesses, can often struggle to be granted more licence. In this year it was reported that of the 1,107 decisions on applications for new premises licences in CIAS’s 92% were granted and 8% refused (compared with 3% refused outside CIAs).

The report stated that 600 reviews were carried out this year, and of them 212 licenses were revoked. An LA can be asked to review a licence on the grounds of it having an adverse impact on the licensing objectives (i.e. the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance, and the protection of children from harm).

Crime and disorder and the protection of children were some of the main reasons for the increase in licenses being revoked with both issues showing an 8% increase in this financial year.