Additional Licence Conditions (ALCs)
Freedom of Information Act request.
Ref: FOI 24-25 11
Date issued: 26 September 2024
Subject: Additional Licence Conditions (ALCs)
Question(s):
We would like to make a Freedom of Information request for the following information:
1. How many ALC’s have been issued to GLAA licence holders in the past 24 months?
2. Of the ALC’s applied in the last 24 months, how many have been issued for failure of Licensing Standard 2.1?
3. Of these, how many were issued as a direct result of the licence holder having a Time to Pay Arrangement in Place with HMRC?
4. Further, of these, how many have ensured timely compliance with all payments? How many have breached their payment schedules?
5. How many GLAA licence holders currently have a Time to Pay arrangement in place with HMRC?
6. Details of how and when this policy decision was made to class a Time To Pay arrangement as being an automatic failure of GLAA Licensing standard 2.1
7. Details of how and when this policy decision was implemented and publicised to GLAA licence holders.
8. Details of training provided to staff regarding the application of ALC’s in particular in regards to the policy decision to class a Time to Pay arrangement as being an automatic failure of GLAA licensing standard 2.1
Response:
1. Since September 2022, our records show that 81 individual ALCs have been attached to licences (this includes multiple ALCs attached to the same licence).
2. Our records show that since Sept 22, 29 ALCs have been attached to licences in relation to LS 2.1(this includes 7 ALCs attached to the same licence)
3. Our records show that there are 16.
4. Whilst HMRC would hold definitive information in relation to timely compliance with TTP timescales and breach of payment schedules, of the 16 above (see q3), 11 ALCs are current and ongoing, 1 licence has been revoked and 4 businesses have expired.
5. HMRC would hold this information – they will be aware of who has a TTP with them and who holds a GLAA licence. We are reliant on receiving information from HMRC OR the licence holder in this regard, we would not be able to provide a definitive answer.
6. Please refer to paragraphs 4.1, 4.3 and 4.4 of the GLAA Licensing Standards for further information and also the Licence decision policy: Licence Decision Policy December 2022 (gla.gov.uk)
The Licensing Standards document is also explicit by explaining that ‘the GLAA treats each case individually, taking account of the seriousness of, and
circumstances surrounding the matter in question.’
Licensing Standard 2.1 also states that ‘failure against this standard will lead to the licence being revoked without immediate effect’.
However, licensing decisions makers – who are experienced in working to the Licensing Standards and Licence Decision Policy – have due regard to the
principles of decisions being ‘evidence based’ and ‘proportionate’. In some cases, they may adopt a proportionate approach when applying the Licensing Standards and where a critical failure is ‘evidenced’, a decision maker may choose NOT to revoke or refuse, where appropriate.
A decision maker will consider information received from HMRC in respect of a TTP arrangement. This is potential evidence or information that a decision maker will consider as part of the licensing process to determine compliance with the Licensing Standards. A TTP arrangement with HMRC is one of many types of information received from other government departments and agencies (through legal gateways) which facilitate the assessment of compliance.
7. The current version of the Licensing Standards was last updated in January 2020 and the Licensing Decision Policy was published in December 2022.
GLAA Brief 81 – published July 2023 – also covers tax compliance in the regulated sectors and may be of assistance.
8. Licensing decision makers are aware and have a full working knowledge of the relevant Licensing Standards (LS), policies and processes. This allows them to make effective and proportionate decisions in relation to LS2.1 and all other Standards.
As stated above, LS 2.1 is a Critical Standard where the decision maker could revoke a licence without immediate effect OR deal with the failure proportionately by attaching an ALC to the licence to ensure future compliance, for example.