36.1. Licensing authorities’ compliance and enforcement work and the costs of dealing with illegal gambling is covered by fees from premises licences and permits.

36.2. Licensing authorities in England and Wales will be aware that section 212(2)(d) of the Act specifically states that local authorities ‘shall aim to ensure that the income from fees… as nearly as possible equates to the costs of providing the service to which the fees relates’.

36.3. Furthermore Department for Culture, Media and Sport (opens in new tab) Guidance to licensing authorities on setting premises licence fees states ‘The annual fee will cover the reasonable costs of compliance and enforcement work, including the cost of dealing with illegal gambling in a licensing authority’s area’.

36.4. Fee setting must be transparent and licensing authorities should closely track their costs and be able to evidence how they arrived at the fee levels in order to demonstrate that they have been calculated on a cost recovery basis only. Fees should be reviewed annually.

36.5. In Scotland all fees for gambling licences and permits are set centrally by Scottish Ministers at a flat rate but again are designed to cover the costs of compliance and enforcement work.

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Last updated: 14 September 2023

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