Licensing
Designated Premises Supervisor

In every premises licensed for the supply of alcohol a Personal Licence Holder must be specified as the Designated Premises Supervisor. This will normally be the person who has been given the day to day responsibility for running the premises by the Premises Licence Holder. 

The Government considers it essential that Police Officers, Fire Officers or Officers of the Licensing Authority can identify immediately the Designated Premises Supervisor so that any problems can be dealt with swiftly. For this reason, the name of the Designated Premises Supervisor and contact details must be specified on the Premises Licence and this must be held at the premises and displayed in summary form. 

To specify a new Designated Premises Supervisor an application must be made to the Licensing Authority together with a consent form signed by the individual to be specified confirming that they are responsible for taking over the role. A copy of the application also has to be served on the Police. 

Importantly only one Designated Premises Supervisor may be specified on a single Premises Licence but a Designated Premises Supervisor may supervise more than one premises as long as they are able to ensure that the four licensing objectives are being properly promoted and the premises complies with the Licensing Laws and licensing conditions. 

The Police have the right to object to the appointment of a Designated Premises Supervisor if they feel that that appointment would undermine the crime prevention objective. This may happen where they feel for example that a Designated Premises Supervisor lacks the experience to run a large venue or there are concerns that a Designated Premises Supervisor is being appointed to more than one premises to have the effect of undermining the licensing objectives.

It is a mandatory condition that on any Premises Licence there must be no supply of alcohol when there is no Designated Premises Supervisor or that Supervisor does not hold a Personal Licence or their Licence has been suspended. That does not however require that a Designated Premises Supervisor shall be on the premises all the time (unless there is a licence condition to the contrary). If a person wishes to cease to be Designated Premises Supervisor at the premises there is a procedure set out in the Licensing Act which enables them to “resign” their position.

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