Government updates guidance to reflect changes intended to make late night levy more flexible, better targeted

The Home Office has issued updated guidance on the late night levy to reflect changes that were commenced last week (13 July).

The late night levy is a power, conferred on licensing authorities by provision in Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. This enables licensing authorities to charge a levy to persons who are licensed to sell alcohol late at night in the authority’s area, as a means of raising a contribution towards the costs of policing the late night economy.

Under section 142 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, several changes were made to the levy. The changes:

• allow licensing authorities the power to apply the levy to late night refreshment premises to assist with the cost of policing the night time economy
• allow local authorities to target the levy in smaller geographical areas where the night time economy places demand on policing, rather than having to implement it across the entirety of their area
• permit Police and Crime Commissioners the right to formally request that a licensing authority consult on implementing a levy
• require licensing authorities to publish information about how the revenue raised from the levy is spent

The guidance, which can be viewed here, says the intention of these changes is “to make the levy more flexible for local areas, fairer to business and more transparent”.