New Power of Licensing Authority to Revoke or Suspend Personal Licences

After 6^th April, if a Licensing Authority learns that a Personal Licence Holder has been convicted of a relevant offence or been fined an immigration penalty, they will be able to revoke the personal licence or suspend it for a period not exceeding six months.  The Licensing Authority will be required to wait until the time to appeal any conviction for a relevant offence has expired, or any appeal which is launched has been determined.

If the Licensing Authority wishes to take action then they will be required to give notice to the Personal Licence Holder, who will then have a period of 28 days to make representations.  There is no hearing process, so as in the case of minor variations to licences, the matter will be determined “behind closed doors.”

In the event that the Licensing Authority subsequently decided not to revoke or suspend the licence they are required to inform the Police, who will then have a period of 14 days to make their own representations.  The Licensing Authority is then required to consider the matter further, make a decision and notify all parties.  There will be a right to appeal a decision to suspend or revoke a personal licence.