58 per cent of licensing applications not filed with less than one week to go

1 August 2005

The FSB, the grassroots lobby group for small businesses, will reveal today (Monday) that 58 per cent of the 180,000 license-holders in England and Wales have so far failed to submit applications to renew their alcohol licenses.

With 6 days to go to the 6 August deadline more than 100,000 businesses are set to miss the deadline including 30,000 restaurants and fast-food outlets, 26,000 hotels and guest houses and 6,500 shops.

Last week (24-31 July) Britain's biggest business organisation used its network of regional organisers to contact more than 80 local authorities. The responses revealed that the proportion of licensing applications received varied from less than 20 per cent to 80 per cent, but averaged just 42 per cent across England and Wales.

The FSB is urging its 185,000 members to submit their applications on time, but is critical of the government for presiding over the implementation of a new system that has descended into chaos.

FSB Policy Chairman John Walker said:

"The Licensing Minister may well be predicting that the new system will be seen favourably in a couple of year's time, but few businesses will forget that its introduction has been a shambles.

"We have some sympathy with local authorities. The failure of businesses to renew their licenses is a time-bomb of the government's making which we warned was set to explode this summer.

"Ministers underestimated the vast array of firms that come under the new regime including many that make just a tiny proportion of their profits from alcohol.

"They didn't listen when we told them that 26-page-forms and a requirement to submit plans of premises were alright for national chains with in-house legal teams but not for independent traders."

The FSB is calling for:

• An urgent review of the licensing regime by the independent fees review panel,
• Measures to combat red tape and free advice from local authorities to ensure that businesses are not forced to take legal advice just to complete the forms,
• Parity of enforcement across local authorities,
• A fees system that operates on a genuine sliding scale, based on more distinct bands of rateable values.
• A reduction in fees for wholesalers and businesses that do not make the bulk of their profit from alcohol.

Region	Local Authorities	Percentage applications received
South Wales	Powys Blaenau Gwent	17% 37%
Devon	Exeter East Devon North Devon Torbay Mid Devon South Hams	24% 50% 55% 30% 70% 80%
Cornwall	Carrick North Cornwall	42% 63%
Lincolnshire	Lincoln	32%
South West	West Wiltshire Kennet Sedgemoor Mendip Bath & North East Somerset North Somerset Swindon	40% 40% 30% 40% 40% 40% 40%
Notts and Derby	Derby Nottingham Derbyshire Dales	Under 50% Under 50% Under 50%
Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire	Bridgnorth North Shropshire Oswestry Shrewsbury & Atchum South Shropshire Telford &Wrekin Unitary Bromsgrove Wychavon	40% 41% 55% 29% 40% 40% 60% 33%
East Anglia	Breckland	31%
Manchester & Cheshire	Vale Royal Stockport Trafford Bury Salford Macclesfield Tameside	55% 64% 17% 35% 40% 50% 50%
Coventry & Warwickshire	Coventry Rugby Solihull Nuneaton and Bedfordshire	37% 26% 30% 49%
West Midlands	Birmingham Cannock Chase Dudley E Staffs Lichfield Newcastle South Staffs Sandwell Stafford Moorlands Stoke on Trent Walsall Wolverhampton	24% 40% 58% 30% 40% 27% 42% 31% 58% 51% 56% 20% 20%
Surrey and West Sussex	Epsom & Ewell Kingston Merton Croydon MoleValley Reigate & Banstead Rushmoor Guildford Crawley Woking Surrey Heath Spelthorpe Arun Chichester	66% 50% 20% 30% 66% 33% 20% 25% 60% 33% 35% 55% 50% 30%
East Sussex	Eastbourne Wealdon Hastings Brighton & Hove Lewes	35% 65% 38% 60% 70%
Bristol & Gloucestershire	Bristol Cheltenham Forest of Dean Gloucester South Gloucester Stroud Tewkesbury	50% 35% 38% 33% 32% 54% 50%
Kent	Canterbury	45%
North East	Sedgefield Sunderland	30% 40%

The FSB is Britain's biggest business organisation with 185,000 members. It exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed, and all those who run their own business. More information is available at www.fsb.org.uk.

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