The Home Office have issued an update today (14/08/23) on the policy change relating to Regulatory Easements.  In its update, the Home Office confirmed that "the Government has decided to extend the alcohol licensing regulatory easements relating to off-sales, set out in the Business and Planning Act 2020 (BPA), until 31 March 2025."

The update in full:

We are writing to inform you that the Government has decided to extend the alcohol licensing regulatory easements relating to off-sales, set out in the Business and Planning Act 2020 (BPA), until 31 March 2025. As you will be aware, the BPA provided that - for a time-limited period - holders of licences that only cover on-sales would automatically be entitled to make off-sales without any need to amend their licence and would be able to serve alcohol in the area covered by any pavement licence that they had, facilitated by a parallel but independent easement to pavement licensing. This extension to Spring 2025 means that businesses will be able to continue to benefit from these provisions for a further 18 months.

We recognise that we previously communicated to you that this easement would lapse on 30 September, and we sincerely apologise for any confusion that this has caused. The decision to extend this easement further has been taken after careful consideration within Government. Ultimately, whilst the immediate Covid crisis has passed, the residual effects continue to cast a long shadow, especially for businesses in the hospitality sector that have been adversely affected. The Government has therefore made this decision to ensure the hospitality sector can maximise every opportunity to recover fully from ongoing effects of the pandemic. This extension will alleviate uncertainty over the status of off-sales for those premises affected and will allow for long term business planning.

The Government’s ultimate goal is to create a unified pavement licence that includes licensing consent for the consumption and sale of alcohol in the outside pavement area. During the 18 month period of the temporary extension to the off-sales provision, we will therefore be working on a permanent solution with the Department for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing. We would be grateful for your support on this matter, and will be reaching out for further engagement in due course.

As you will know, another regulatory easement set out in the BPA related to Temporary Event Notices (TENs); it temporarily increased the annual number of TENs that a licensed premise user can have in respect of a premises from 15 to 20 per year and increased the maximum number of days on which temporary events may be held at such premises from 21 to 26 per year. For the avoidance of doubt, this easement will not be extended, given that the additional TENs provided for in the BPA have been under-utilised. As such, on 31 December 2023, this easement will lapse.