What Are the Benefits of Regular Licensing Training for Organisations, Management and Employees?
Obtaining a premises licence and delivering induction training to management and employees is only the start of your licensed business’s compliance responsibilities.
The conditions attached to your premises licence and the procedures implemented to follow them must be maintained over time to protect your premises from unnecessary risk. As a result, management and employees need to understand your premises licence, the procedures they are expected to follow and how to respond when an incident occurs.
To support ongoing compliance, this knowledge must also be maintained as employees, managers, risks and operating practices change.
Regular licensing training helps to keep important procedures fresh in employees’ minds and enables them to apply their knowledge when an incident or inspection occurs.
Why one-off licensing training is not always enough
Initial training when a new employee joins the business provides them with the foundations they need to perform their roles on a day-to-day basis. However, knowledge can fade over time or an employee may complete their initial training without fully understanding how it applies to the conditions and procedures at their particular premises.
The compliance requirements and risks affecting a premises can change when:
● New employees join the business
● Managers or the designated premises supervisor change
● The premises licence is varied
● New conditions are added to the licence
● Operating procedures are updated
● Different types of events take place
● A serious incident exposes a weakness
● The police or another responsible authority raises a concern
● A compliance inspection identifies a gap in staff knowledge
Ongoing training allows management to reinforce important procedures, address emerging risks and check that employees understand what is expected of them.
It also helps to demonstrate that training is part of the business’s normal compliance arrangements rather than something introduced as a result of an incident or immediately before a licence application.
How training supports ongoing licensing compliance
Regular training should form part of a wider ongoing compliance programme instead of operating as a separate exercise.
An unexpected compliance inspection could reveal that employees are unable to explain an important licence condition. An incident review could identify inconsistent record keeping or uncertainty around when an incident needs to be escalated. Or, an undercover observation may show that a procedure is not being followed consistently, or at all during live trading.
Findings uncovered during these inspections can be used to shape future training and apply it to the actual risks and weaknesses at your premises. This ensures training stays relevant to your premises and the real situations employees may encounter.
The benefits of regular licensing training for the organisation
Regular licensing training can help your organisation maintain consistent standards, manage risk and demonstrate that compliance is an established part of day-to-day operations.
1. Support compliance with the premises licence
For effective compliance, it’s essential that the conditions attached to your premises licence are translated into practical procedures that employees can understand and follow.
Simply keeping a copy of the licence in the back office is not enough if the people responsible for implementing its conditions do not understand what those conditions require.
Premises-specific training can explain:
● The activities authorised by the licence
● Permitted operating hours
● Challenge 25 and age verification requirements
● Door supervision arrangements
● CCTV conditions
● Incident and refusal recording
● Noise management procedures
● Customer dispersal arrangements
● Welfare and vulnerability procedures
● Conditions affecting external or smoking areas
Regular training enables the organisation to revisit these requirements and the policies and procedures needed to follow them as employees and management teams change.
2. Provide better physical and legal protection for staff and customers
Employees working at licensed premises may need to respond to challenging situations such as intoxication, conflict, suspected drink spiking, customer vulnerability, underage sales, drugs or medical emergencies.
Ongoing training helps staff to better understand the procedures they need to follow, their responsibilities and when the incident should be escalated to management or the emergency services.
This can help employees recognise risks earlier and take the appropriate actions to safeguard themselves, their colleagues and customers.
In addition, training can strengthen the organisation’s legal position by being able to demonstrate that staff have been appropriately trained and reasonable steps have been taken to manage foreseeable risks.
While training cannot prevent incidents or remove liability, an established and documented training programme may reduce the likelihood of avoidable failures that could expose the business to complaints, claims, enforcement action or corporate liability.
3. Build a reputation and protect your brand
The way in which employees manage difficult situations can influence the way customers, local communities and responsible authorities view your brand.
Poorly handled incidents, inconsistent procedures and inappropriate staff conduct can result in complaints and reputational damage. This may not only affect a single premises, but also the wider company, particularly where several venues operate under the same brand.
Regular licensing training supports more professional and consistent standards across your organisation. It also helps employees understand how their conduct can affect the wider business and prepares them to manage customers and incidents appropriately.
4. Reduce the risk of costly challenges to your premises licence
Poorly trained staff or staff who haven’t had any refresher training may misunderstand licence conditions, fail to follow agreed procedures or respond inappropriately when an incident occurs. Left unaddressed and allowed to repeat, these issues could attract attention from the police, licensing authority or another responsible authority.
Regular training helps employees understand their responsibilities and allows management to regularly identify and correct gaps in knowledge or incorrectly handled procedures before they lead to more serious compliance concerns.
Although training cannot prevent a formal challenge, maintaining an ongoing and documented training schedule may help to reduce the likelihood of failures that may ultimately lead to an application being made to review the premises licence. This may help your organisation avoid the cost, disruption and management time involved in responding to challenges to your licence or conditions.
5. Build confidence with responsible authorities
Regular licensing training, supported by employees who are able to act accordingly when an incident occurs, can help demonstrate to the police, licensing authority and other responsible authorities that your organisation is committed to professional management and responsible operation.
Maintaining clear records of induction and refresher training provides evidence that employees understand their responsibilities and that compliance is treated as an ongoing priority.
Having a positive compliance history recorded can help build confidence in the way your business is managed, support constructive relationships with responsible authorities and reduce the likelihood of avoidable concerns complicating future applications.
6. Demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the licensing objectives
Regular licensing training helps employees understand how their day-to-day responsibilities support the four licensing objectives:
● The prevention of crime and disorder
● Public safety
● The prevention of public nuisance
● The protection of children from harm
Providing training on a regular basis, rather than only after an incident occurs or immediately before your licence application, demonstrates that compliance is considered carefully in the daily running of the premises.
Maintaining clear records of induction training, refresher sessions and course completion can provide evidence that your organisation makes a sustained investment in staff knowledge and the responsible management of your premises.
The benefits of regular training for premises management
The organisational benefits outlined above also help to support the management teams responsible for the day-to-day operation of the premises.
Managers must oversee employees, implement the conditions attached to the premises licence and make important decisions under pressure when incidents occur. Regular training can help them respond more consistently and give them greater confidence in the knowledge and abilities of their team.
1. Improve responses to actual and potential incidents
When an incident occurs or appears likely to develop, managers often need to make important decisions quickly. Regular training helps them to recognise the early warning signs, understand the appropriate procedures and take proportionate action before a situation escalates.
Scenario-based training can help managers respond effectively to issues involving intoxication, conflict, customer vulnerability, suspected drink spiking, refusals of service and allegations of assault. It can also reinforce when the emergency services should be contacted, which evidence needs to be preserved and how the incident should be recorded.
Regularly revisiting these procedures and ensuring management teams understand their responsibilities allows them to respond more confidently and consistently when faced with a developing or an actual incident.
2. Build confidence in staff knowledge and ability
It’s important for managers to know that employees have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and have the practical knowledge needed to manage potential incidents as they arise.
Regular licensing training enables management to assess staff knowledge, correct misunderstandings and identify where further support may be required. This gives managers greater confidence in their team’s ability to respond appropriately, including when senior personnel are occupied or not immediately available.
The benefits of regular training for individual employees
Regular training also provides direct benefits for individual employees.
It helps them build on the knowledge gained during their induction training, understand how licensing requirements apply to their role and develop the confidence to respond appropriately when an incident occurs. It can also help employees understand how their actions contribute to the responsible management of the premises.
1. Develop knowledge, confidence and professionalism
Investing in regular training gives employees the knowledge and confidence needed to carry out their day-to-day responsibilities professionally and respond to incidents when under pressure.
Employees who have a full understanding of the premises licence, relevant procedures and the reasons behind them are better equipped to make appropriate decisions, communicate confidently with customers and recognise when management support may be required.
Continued development shows employees that they are valued and that your organisation is committed to helping them maintain high professional standards.
2. Ensure understanding of licensing objectives across your organisation
Training helps employees to keep the four licensing objectives front of mind during every shift. It can also explain the different roles and areas of responsibility of the licensing authority, police and other responsible authorities.
Not all employees need a detailed knowledge of the licensing system. However, relevant staff need to understand what the authorities may expect from licensed premises, why they might visit and how questions or requests should be referred to the appropriate manager.
This gives employees greater context for the procedures they’re expected to follow and helps them understand how their individual actions support the wider responsibilities of the premises.
3. Add practical context to induction and online training
Induction and online training provide an important foundation for employees joining the organisation, but they cannot always explore every situation that may arise at a particular premises.
Regular face-to-face training helps to build on this initial knowledge by applying it to your premises’ particular licence conditions, operating procedures, previous incidents and known risks.
It also provides employees with an opportunity to ask questions, discuss possible scenarios and explore the different ways in which to respond. This can help staff understand not only what a particular procedure requires, but why one response may be more appropriate than another in a particular situation.
4. Recognise and manage high-risk situations earlier
Many serious incidents start with warning signs that can be missed if employees do not know what to look for.
Regular training can help staff and managers recognise when incidents might be developing in relation to intoxication, conflict, customer vulnerability, suspected drink spiking, drugs or disorder.
Being able to identify these concerns earlier gives the team a greater opportunity to intervene appropriately, seek assistance and follow the premises’ escalation procedures before the situation becomes more difficult to manage.
Training cannot prevent every incident from occurring, but it can help employees respond to higher-risk situations in a more informed, confident and proportionate way.
5. Build familiarity through regular practice
Revisiting and practising important policies and procedures helps employees develop familiarity, or ‘muscle memory’ so they are more likely to remember the appropriate steps when working under pressure. This can support quicker recognition, faster escalation and a more confident response.
The aim is not to encourage an automatic reaction without considering the consequences, it is to make key procedures familiar enough that staff can recognise the risk, take appropriate action and involve the right person promptly.
6. Improve incident and compliance record keeping
Managing an incident does not end once the immediate situation has been brought under control. Depending on the severity of the incident, your premises may need to create a clear and accurate record of what happened and how staff responded.
Regular training can help employees understand:
● Which incidents and interventions should be recorded
● What information the record should include
● Why facts need to be distinguished from assumptions or opinions
● When CCTV or other evidence may need to be preserved
● Who should review or escalate the report
● How records should be stored securely
Keeping accurate records can help management identify any recurring risks and demonstrate how an incident was handled if it is later scrutinised by the police, licensing authority or another responsible authority.
They can also provide evidence of the practical steps taken by the premises and its employees to support the licensing objectives.
Make regular training part of your ongoing compliance programme
Regular licensing training has an impact across your whole business. It helps you to maintain consistent standards, protect your reputation and demonstrate a continuing commitment to the licensing objectives. It gives managers and employees greater confidence to act under pressure and during a busy shift. For employees, it also develops knowledge, professionalism and the practical ability to recognise and respond to risk.
Training is most valuable when it’s tailored to the particular risks and incidents that are likely to occur at your individual premises. Compliance inspections, incident reviews and undercover observations can identify weaknesses or gaps in knowledge, allowing future training to address the areas presenting the greatest risk.
Complete Licensing provides ongoing licensing compliance services for pubs, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, entertainment venues and other licensed premises across England and Wales.
