Liverpool City Council’s Licensing Committee met last week and decided to retain the Levy and not to propose any changes to the Levy.
The decision is contrary to the recommendations of a report detailing the responses to a consultation carried out concerning the Late Night Levy, which recommended the Levy cease.
As stated in the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting “ the consensus view of the Licensing Committee was that, whilst not unsympathetic to the problems faced by the hospitality industry, the Levy provided a valuable source of income for resourcing useful initiatives targeted at mitigating the problems that flowed from the late night supply of alcohol in the city. The City Council could not afford at the current time to lose this income as it would mean the likely cessation of such initiatives which benefitted the public good. Whilst there may be scope in the future for considering variations to the design of the Levy now was not the right time to do so.”
The Late Night Levy, as you may be aware, is an additional annual fee that operators of licensed premises within the Council area must pay if their premises licence or club certificate authorises the sale of alcohol during the period between midnight and 6am (subject to a small number of exemptions – in Liverpool these exemptions are premises only authorised to sell alcohol beyond midnight and 6.00 am on New Year’s Day and licensed premises operators already paying a Business Improvement District levy). The annual levy fee ranges from £299 a year for smaller businesses to £4,449 for larger business which are used exclusively or primarily for the sale of alcohol.
For further information or queries, please feel free to contact associate solicitor, Suraj Desor
