Gambling Commission cuts maintenance fee for personal functional licences

Press release

Date: 7 August 2012

The Gambling Commission (the Commission) has confirmed a 20% reduction in personal maintenance licence fees from £185 to £145 for personal functional licence holders. The cut comes shortly before the first round of personal maintenance checks which begin this September.

The change has been made possible by the Commission’s progress in streamlining compliance and enforcement work with personal functional licence holders and introducing new IT systems. A key development will mean licence holders can complete their maintenance checks and other administrative tasks using the eServices-Personal facility  at www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk.

The new eServices-Personal facility has new features, added earlier this month, and all personal licence holders are being encouraged to register in advance of the first round of five-year maintenance checks.

“We have implemented new systems and ways of working in collaboration with the industry and are using the potential savings identified to bring down maintenance fees for personal functional licence holders.” said the Commission’s programme director for licensing and compliance, Sharon McNair.

Further details on personal licences can be found at www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/personal_licences.

Ends

Notes to editors

The Gambling Commission

  1. 1. The Gambling Commission (the Commission) regulates gambling in the public interest alongside its co-regulators local licensing authorities. It does so by keeping crime out of gambling, by ensuring that gambling is conducted fairly and openly, and by protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling. The Commission also provides independent advice to government on gambling in Britain. 
  2. 2. The Commission and local licensing authorities are responsible for licensing and regulating all gambling in Great Britain other than the National Lottery and spread betting, which are the responsibility of the National Lottery Commission and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) respectively.  
  3. 3. See the Terms & Conditions section of our website for information on legal advice.
  4. 4. The first five-year personal licence maintenance fee payments are due in September 2012, when the Commission will take the opportunity to complete a five-year maintenance check to ensure that the personal details of licence holders remain accurate.
  5. 5. Holders of personal licences must pay fees to the Commission every five years to maintain their licences. As part of the five-yearly maintenance process, the Commission will need to check the continued suitability (eg integrity, competence) of personal licence holders. The fee for Personal Management Licence Holders remains unchanged at £370.
  6. 6. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has laid a draft Statutory Instrument before Parliament under a 21 day resolution on 16 July 2012. The 21 day period ended yesterday and the new fee will take effect on 1 September 2012.
  7. 7. The Commission will write to individual licence holders six weeks before payment is due. A CRB/SCRO form and identity check must be completed and neither of those tasks are available online. See our FAQs section for further information.

Further information

  1. Further information is available from the Commission's website. Gambling Commission: John Travers on (0121) 230 6700 or communications@gamblingcommission.gov.uk.