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Personal alcohol licence

You will need a Personal Licence if you are planning:

  • to authorise the sale or supply of alcohol in accordance with a premises licence, or
  • you want to become a Designated Premises Supervisor on a Premises Licence, or
  • you need to increase the number of Temporary Event Notices you can apply for.

Apply for a personal alcohol licence

Apply for a change of name/address/replacement

Right to Work in the United Kingdom

Any person applying for a personal alcohol licence must provide proof that they are eligible to reside and work in the UK. Proof of residence is now a mandatory requirement for all new personal alcohol licence applications. If you fail to provide such documentation, then we will not begin processing your licence application until you do so.

It should also be noted that if a person ceases to have the right to live and work within the UK, that any personal licence issued will lapse. Therefore, it is incumbent on the applicant to ensure that any documents are supplied to us as soon as possible if their right to live and work in the UK expires midway through a licence period.

Your right to work will be checked as part of your personal licence application and this could involve us checking your immigration status with the Home Office. We may otherwise share information with the Home Office.

UK nationals will normally prove their right to work by providing a copy of their UK passport or their UK birth certificate together with an official document giving the person's permanent National Insurance number and their name issued by a government agency.

Irish Citizens

Irish citizens continue to have unrestricted access to work in the UK. They can prove their right to work using their Irish passport or Irish passport card (in either case, whether current or expired), or their Irish birth or adoption certificate together with an official document giving the person's permanent National Insurance number and their name issued by a government agency or a previous employer.

Irish citizens can also apply for a frontier worker permit. This permit can be issued digitally or as a physical permit, so they can prove their right to work using the Home Office online right to work service.

EEA Citizens - EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

Since 1 July 2021, EEA citizens and their family members are required to have immigration status in the UK. They can no longer rely on an EEA passport or national identity card to prove their right to work. They are required to provide evidence of lawful immigration status in the UK, in the same way as other foreign nationals.

The majority of EEA citizens now prove their right to work using the Home Office online services.

If an EEA citizen has been granted 'Settled Status' by the Home Office, they will have a continuous right to work. If an EEA citizen has been granted 'Pre-Settled Status' by the Home Office, they will have a time-limited right to work.

It remains an offence to employ persons at a licensed premises who do not have the right to live or work in the UK.

Supporting Documents

In addition to proving your right to work, all applications must be supported by:

  • A criminal record search no older than one month when received by the Licensing Authority. It must be the original document. See guidance notes section below for more details.
  • An accredited personal licence holder qualification. It must be the original document. See guidance notes section below for more details.
  • A Passport style photo endorsed as a true likeness of you by a prescribed person. Ensure this person states their authority to sign i.e. Solicitor, Teacher, Professional Qualification holder. See guidance notes section below for more details.

About the licence

The personal licence is designed to ensure that anybody running or managing a business that sells or supplies alcohol will do so in a professional fashion. Once you receive your personal licence, you can act as the designated premises supervisor for any business that sells or supplies alcohol.

Apply for a personal alcohol licence

Do I need to renew my personal licence?

The law regarding personal licences was changed in 2015. The result of this change was that all new and existing personal licences no longer need to be renewed. If you hold a personal licence with an expiry date you do not need to worry, as all enforcement agencies are aware of this change, and this expiry date will simply be ignored.

If you would prefer to have a personal licence with the expiry date omitted, you can request this from the Council. A fee of £10.50 will be charged, and you must return your old licence with your request.

If I move address or change my name do I need to tell anyone?

If you move address or change your name you must complete the form at the top of this page, pay a fee of £10.50, and return your existing licence. You will always deal with South Cambridgeshire District Council even if you move out of the district.

What should I do if I am charged with a relevant offence under the Licensing Act 2003?

If you are charged with a relevant offence under the Licensing Act 2003 you must notify the Magistrates' Court hearing your case on first appearance that you hold a personal licence. If you are subsequently convicted of the offence you must notify the Licensing Authority giving full details of the conviction.

If the offence occurs during the application period, you must notify the Licensing Authority immediately.

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 gives the Licensing Authority the power to suspend a personal licence for up to six months, or revoke the personal licence.

Why are we asking for your personal information?

We require your personal data to enable us to comply with a legal obligation and enable us to review your application to be provided with the requested licence.
There are laws in place, Licensing Act 2003, that tell us what information we have to collect and keep. We may automate decisions and will inform you if we have done this as soon as reasonably practicable and provide you with access to our Data Protection Policy.

You hold the following rights with regard to the personal data you provide us:

  • Right to Access – You have the right to access (receive a copy) of your personal data and supplementary information.
  • Right to Rectification – You have the right to have any inaccurate or incomplete personal data rectified
  • Right to Restriction – You have the right to request a restriction of the processing of your personal data in situations where it is inaccurate, unlawful, and no longer needed for the purposes for which it was originally collected, or if a withdrawal of consent has been made.

Sharing your information

We may share your personal data with Local Partner Authorities, Police, Legal, Courts, Internal/External audit, Disclosure and Barring Service, HM Revenue & Customs, Statutory responsible authorities as required. We may process the information you provide to prevent and detect fraud in any of our systems and may supply information to government agencies, credit reference agencies, audit or other external bodies for such purposes. We participate in the Governments National Fraud Initiative.

If any of the information we have about you is incorrect, please tell us, we are reliant on you assisting us to keep your information accurate and up to date.

Retention of your personal information

We only keep your information as long as necessary, for some items this will be dictated by law. You can find out more by looking at the Councils Retention Policy on the website. We do not routinely process any information about you outside the UK. We will not transfer your personal data outside of the EU. South Cambridgeshire District Council is a registered Data Controller with the Information Commissioners Office.

You can find out more about how we handle your data by visiting our Privacy Notice page.

If you have a query regarding your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer who can be contacted by emailing infogov@3csharedservices.org or you can write to us and mark your letter for the attention of the Data Protection Officer.

Alternatively you can call 07864 604221 or 01954 713318. You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) should you believe any part of this statement to be unlawful.

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