Who needs a Personal Licence?
A Personal Licence is usually required by anyone who is responsible for the sale of alcohol at premises which may be a supermarket, restaurant, hotel, off-licence or other retailer of alcohol.
Most Managers of premises will have a Personal Licence and then authorise others to make sales on his or her behalf.  For example, not every member of staff who works on the till in a supermarket will hold a Personal Licence but are therefore “authorised” to make sales by their Manager who does hold a Personal Licence.
Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS)
The DPS is the person named on the Premises Licence as the person “in day to day control” and provides a single point of accountability should anything go wrong with Licence (for example an underage sale or sale outside of the hours of the Premises Licence).  A DPS is nominated by the Premises Licence Holder.
A DPS must hold a Personal Licence and there can only be one at each premises.
Your senior Manager or Area Manager will normally be nominated as the DPS.

How many Personal Licence Holders do I need?

Depending on the size of a premises it is recommended that there are several Personal Licence Holders on site.  As above, there can only ever be one DPS but it is advisable to have other Personal Licence Holders on site to assist the DPS.
This becomes vital should the DPS leave the business for any reason as alcohol cannot be sold until the DPS is replaced by way of a Variation Application.
How do I apply for a Personal Licence
In order to obtain a Personal Licence you must first obtain the Award in Personal Licence Holders certificate.  Hills Licensing can assist you with this training, please contact us on 07891 526110 or by email: sally@hillslicensing.co.uk and see our separate Training Page.
Once the certificate has been obtained an Application needs to be made to the Police for a Criminal Records check and then an Application to your local Council.  Again Hills Licensing can assist you with this process.