If the police or a licensing officer call after an incident, they ask who was in charge and what they had been trained to do. This pack puts the DPS's role, each named deputy's training and the sign-off on paper before anyone asks, with certificates that verify online.
Also: staff training records, the refusals register and everything for pubs and licensed premises.
For the Designated Premises Supervisor and named deputies at pubs, bars, nightclubs, off-licences and shops with a premises licence in England and Wales. A written DPS role, deputy training, a knowledge test, a record of who is in charge when the DPS is away, and what to do if a review of your premises licence is called.
This pack covers the DPS role under the Licensing Act 2003. Underage sales and drugs awareness have a pack each, below. Cellar work has its own packs: COSHH for line-cleaning chemicals and cellar gas, and manual handling for kegs.
A record a licensing officer can check without asking the DPS to explain it on the spot.
Each person is assessed in three parts, and every part is signed. Knowledge questions are put to them and recorded. They answer a written test of 12 questions by hand, with a pass mark of 80%; the questions on trading without a valid DPS and on handling a licensing visit must be right whatever the overall score. Then comes a practical sign-off: the DPS has named and briefed at least one deputy, recorded in the delegation and absence register (DPS-04). The certificate is issued only when all three parts are complete.
The certificate names the course, the person, the premises and the date, and carries a QR code. Scanning it, or looking the reference up, opens a live record showing who was trained, on what, and when. PHW keeps the evidence file behind each certificate (the test paper, the questioning record and the signed assessment records) for at least two years.
On request, PHW provides a premises verification statement for your licensing authority, the police or your own records. It sets out the legal basis and how each person was assessed. The legal duties stay with the premises licence holder and the DPS. These records are your evidence.
What the Licensing Act 2003 and the Home Office guidance say about the DPS, in plain words.
Section 19 puts two conditions on a premises licence that allows the supply of alcohol. First, no alcohol may be supplied at a time when there is no designated premises supervisor, or when the DPS does not hold a personal licence or that licence is suspended. Second, every supply of alcohol must be made or authorised by a person who holds a personal licence. Supplying alcohol otherwise than in accordance with the licence is an offence under section 136: on summary conviction, up to six months' imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both, for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015.
A DPS must hold a personal licence. The council grants one on application to a person aged 18 or over who holds a licensing qualification and meets the other conditions in section 120 of the Act. This pack is for the DPS who already holds that licence, and for the premises licence holder and named deputies who work alongside them.
No. The Act does not require the DPS, or any other personal licence holder, to be on the premises whenever alcohol is sold. But every sale must be made or authorised by a personal licence holder, so whoever serves while the DPS is away needs that authority, and a deputy without a personal licence cannot give it. The guidance issued under section 182 of the Act strongly recommends that authorisations are given in writing, and says the DPS and the premises licence holder remain responsible for the premises at all times. That is why each named deputy needs a written record of their authority and of every absence.
The DPS support pack is quoted for your premises. Tell us how many premises you have, how many staff serve alcohol and how many deputies cover for the DPS, and PHW will come back with a quote and dates.