TENs: Plan ahead

Following the busy Christmas Period, January can be a comparatively ‘slow’ month for premises.  For operators whose New Year’s resolution was ‘to be better organised’, now is an apt time to plan ahead for those special events for the year and any Temporary Event Notices (TENs) you may require.  With this in mind, here is a brief, non- exhaustive, guide to TENs.

• Check your existing Premises Licence. You might not need a TEN for certain events. For example, if you wish to extend trading hours on Bank Holiday Sundays, you may already have non-standard timings for licensable activities to that effect on your licence such that a TEN would be unnecessary.
• If a TEN is required, the fee payable to the Council is £21
• Following last year’s change, you can now issue up to 15 TENs each year for the same area or premises
• The number of people allowed to attend an event licensed under a TEN is 499. This includes your staff
• An event cannot last more than 168 hours, which is 7 days.
• No more than 21 days can be covered by TENs for the premises within a calendar year ( if an event starts on one day and finishes the next morning, this is two days out of the limit of 21 per year).
• There must be at least 24 hours between each event at any one premises where the “user” of the TEN is the same person or “connected” persons.
• A personal licence holder can apply for up to 50 TENs a year for different premises / locations, 10 of which can be late TENs ( 5 for non – personal licence holders, 2 of which can be late TENs)

Ensure you issue your TEN within the required timescales to avoid issues and disruption to planned events:

Standard TEN. Your local licensing authority must receive your TEN at least 10 working days before the date the event is to take place and, unless given electronically to the licensing authority, must also be sent to the Police and Environmental Health Officer at the same time. “Working days” exclude the day the notice is received and the first day of the event.

Late TEN. This must be received by the licensing authority at least 5 working days but no earlier than 9 working days before the day the event is to take place. Again, unless issued electronically, a copy of the TEN must also be sent to the Police and Environmental Health Officer at the same time. Remember, if you do apply for a late TEN and receive objections from the Police or Environmental Health, your notice will not be valid, there is no appeal and you cannot hold the event (differing from a standard TEN, where an objection would lead to a hearing).