Inspections and Guidance

It is the role of the Licensing Authority to protect the public from any harm that might arise from the provision of licensable activities at licensed premises. As part of this role licensing officers conduct visits to licensed premises to monitor compliance with the requirements of the premises licence and ensure the promotion of the licensing objectives.

In Mid Devon we aim to visit all premises licensed under the Licensing Act 2003 in accordance with an allocated risk rating. The premises risk rating is based on factors such as the nature of the premises, the range of licensable activities authorised, the times of activities and confidence in the management of the business.

It is strongly recommended that those responsible for the day to day management of licensed premises carry out regular licence compliance checks. To ensure compliance levels, you should consider the following matters:

• Is the listed designated premises supervisor (DPS) current?
• Has the DPS authorised staff in writing to sell alcohol on their behalf?
• Do you have a written age verification policy?
• Are your staff familiar with, and trained in licensing requirements?
• Can you show records of relevant staff training?
• Are your staff training records up to date?
• Is your Part A licence (or certified copy) available for inspection at the premises?
• Is your Part B (licence summary) prominently displayed at the premises?
• Is the premises plan accurate/up to date?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, you need to take the appropriate remedial actions immediately. In order to assist we have included some templates of standard documents below, as well as some links to useful information and resources. Completing these templates and using the resources provided will help your premises to promote the licensing objectives and this will help to ensure that any inspection is dealt with as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Standard documents

• Premises age verification policy (example) pdf word document
• Refusal and incident book (example) pdf word document
• Sale of alcohol – staff authorisation (example) pdf word document
• Training log (example) pdf word document

Mandatory Conditions

With changes to legislation mandatory conditions aren’t appearing on some licences but they do still apply. Attached is a list of conditions which you should familiarise yourself with the relevant ones to your premises ensure you are compliant.

Useful links

• Training and guidelines on age restricted products for staff & managers: ‘No Proof of Age - No Sale’ is an interactive online toolkit aimed at all businesses and premises that sell age restricted goods or services. The toolkit is run & maintained directly by Trading Standards with a dedicated group of experts that ensure the toolkit is kept up to date with any current & upcoming legislation that may affect your business.

  Devon and Somerset Trading standards have joined forces with SWERCOTTS and are currently offering 12 months free subscription to many businesses in Mid Devon. More information is available here https://www.tssw.org.uk/business/no-proof-of-age-no-sale/ .

• Due diligence: There is a defence for some offences under the Licensing Act 2003 of due diligence and in order to use this a person must be able to show two things. Firstly, they must show that the act was due to a mistake; or to placing reliance on information given; or to an act or an omission by another person; or to some other cause beyond their control. Secondly, they must show that they took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence. More information can be found here: Licensing Act and Due Diligence.

• Managing safety in pubs: It is important that you risk asses your premises and think about the steps you may want to implement to keep people safe. More information on this can be found here: Managing safety in pubs.