Alcohol Licensing Fee Review

4-Consulting were commissioned by the Scottish Government to provide a Review of Alcohol Licensing Fees. This research aimed to establish the current fees collected and costs incurred by Local Authorities, to evaluate the current fees regime and other potential options, and to consider stakeholder views on the current and alternative structures.

The review found that some stakeholders were in favour of a turnover based system and some a square footage based system; however both of these approaches were considered to be problematic and received more arguments against than in favour of their use. Overall, a substantial majority of Licensing Board survey respondents and stakeholder interviewees favoured modification of the existing system based on rateable value.