Appointing managers
You must notify the Committee and police when you:
- appoint a new certified manager
- cancel or terminate a certificated manager
- hire a temporary or acting manager.
Please fill in the form below and post or email it to the Committee and police (the addresses are on the form).
The Committee may, within five working days of receiving this notice, inform the licensee that it does not approve the appointment.
Managers without certificates
There may be times when you need to employ a person who doesn’t have a manager's certificate.
Temporary manager
If your manager is sick or absent for any reason, dismissed or resigns, you can appoint a temporary manager who may or may not hold a manager's certificate.
There must be a genuine emergency for your existing certified manager to be absent.
For two days or less, you need to make sure:
- the duty manager sign reflects 'temporary manager'
- this change is recorded in your manager’s register (who they are replacing and for how long).
For more than two days, you also need to make sure:
- the appointee applies for a manager's certificate while continuing to work as a temporary manager
- you send a Notice of Management Change form to the Committee and the police
- you keep copies of all the paperwork in your manager’s register.
Acting manager
You can hire an acting manager for up to three weeks if a manager is sick or absent and for periods of up to six weeks a year to replace a manager on annual leave.
You need to make sure:
- you complete a Notice of Management Change form
- the duty manager sign reflects 'acting manager'
- this fact is recorded in your manager’s register
- you keep copies of all the paperwork in your manager’s register.
Manager’s register
You must keep a record of all the certified duty managers, acting managers and temporary managers you appoint on the premises.
Your manager’s register must contain the following details for each manager:
- their full name, date of birth and gender
- the number and expiry date of their manager's certificate
- their date of appointment and if applicable, the date of termination
- a copy of their manager's certificate
- a copy of the Notice of Management Change form.
Your manager’s register is a working document that should be updated as changes happen. You must keep this information for at least two years.
Please feel free to download the manager’s register template below if you don’t already have one.
Systems, staff and training guidelines
Alcohol licensees must have appropriate systems and regular staff training in place to make sure their alcohol sale and supply activities operate within the law.
Why is this important?
It’s important that managers, licensees and their staff understand the law: 80% of businesses that fail police Controlled Purchase Operations do so because untrained staff make the sale.
What you need to do?
The Committee requires evidence of training systems in place, or information around what systems will be put in place in the future, with all applications.
It also expects all licensee company directors and other business partners have obtained the Licence Controller Qualification (LCQ).
Systems
Some examples of systems you could have in place to ensure compliance with the law are:
Signage at the points of sale
Signage regarding the prohibition of sale to minors and intoxicated persons are for the staff to use as back up. This is a mandatory condition of your licence, but you need to also make sure these signs explain the rules. You can collect these signs from our office, order them online from the Health Promotion Agency or you can make your own.
Till prompts
You can install software systems that remind staff to check a customer’s age before a sale is made.
Mystery shoppers
There are organisations that arrange these in the form of a mock Controlled Police Operations (using an 18-year-old), or you can arrange them yourselves. Remember to record all the details. Make sure staff are advised of the process and there are steps in place to penalise them if they fail.
Host responsibility policy
Have an effective host responsibility policy in place and displayed for the staff and customers at all points of sale.
Intoxication assessment guidelines
Intoxication assessment guidelines displayed for your staff to refer to. You can collect copies for free from us or order them from the Health Promotion Agency.
Staff
A properly appointed manager must be always on duty and on the premises when alcohol is available for sale. You need to show you have an adequate number of managers appointed so that a duty manager will always be onsite if alcohol is sold.
Training
All staff must receive training in host responsibility practices and general compliance with the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.
You will need to provide a copy of any training programmes and evidence of the staff being trained every six months at a minimum.
Some examples of training you could have in place to ensure compliance with the law are:
- Ongoing training using a copy of your licence, your host responsibility policy and the intoxication assessment guidelines, which are then discussed and signed off as being received, read and understood.
- Using useful resources from the Health Promotion Agency. You can collect these from our Council office or order them from the Health Promotion Agency.
The Bar Code: frontline bar staff and the law.
Host Responsibility: guidelines for licensed premises.
The Manager's Guide 2014.
Intoxication assessment guideline. - Many organisations have their own in-house training packages that all staff must complete/attend on a regular basis. But there are also external training organisations that do seminars and provide certificates of attendance.
- You could get all staff to complete and hold the Licence Controller Qualification, even if they do not want a manager's certificate. All licensee company directors and other business partners should have the Licence Controller Qualification, even if they personally do not want a manager's certificate.
Extended trading hours for the Rugby World Cup 2023
Temporary amendments to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (the Act) for the men's Rugby World Cup 2023 allow eligible on-licence and club-licence holders to extend their trading hours to televise live games from the tournament in France without the need to apply for special licenses.
The amendments can be found in sections 45A-45H and schedule 4 of the Act. The approach is similar to that taken for the last two Rugby World Cup tournaments, with some improvements.
This factsheet provides information on eligibility for extended trading hours and your responsibilities as a licensee when using them.
Who can extend their hours?
You can extend your trading hours if:
- you hold a current club licence or an on-licence
- your main reason for extending your trading hours is to host customers to watch live games from the Rugby World Cup 2023
- your licence has not been varied or suspended under section 280 of the Act in the past year, and
- your licence has not been suspended or cancelled immediately before or during the Rugby World Cup 2023.
What must licensees do to extend their trading hours?
Notification
You must notify your territorial authority (city or district council) and the nearest Police station of the games you intend to be open for.
This notification must be in writing (either by post or email) and must be received by both parties at least seven calendar days before the games you intend to extend your trading hours for. We encourage you to make notifications as early as possible to give Police and others plenty of time to plan.
The notification can list multiple games. It also needs to outline the steps you will take to keep noise levels down.
Display notice
As soon as practicable after notifying the territorial authority and Police, you must display information about how your premises will use extended licensing hours, including details of how noise will be managed - in the same way as you normally display your alcohol licence. You must keep this information updated throughout the tournament.
Cancellation of notification
If you change your mind about opening for a game you have notified for, you must provide a cancellation of notification to your territorial authority and nearest Police station as soon as possible.
Noise management
Your premises must keep noise levels down when screening after-hours games, and you must outline how you will do this in your notification. In addition to the normal noise management conditions in your licence, you will be required to take extra measures to reduce noise, appropriate to your location and game times.
These include ensuring customers and staff do not:
- use the premises’ open areas at all, even those normally used for smoking, or
- use audio equipment such as loudspeakers in open areas, or
- dispose of empty bottles or other rubbish or leave them for collection in open areas.
“Open area” is defined by the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990, s2(1) as a part of a premises that is not an internal area.
Concerns about noise will be reported to the territorial authority and Police, and it will be for their enforcement staff to determine the appropriate response.
When can premises open and sell alcohol for after-hours games?
If a game starts during your premises' usual permitted trading hours, you can remain open for the whole match.
If the first game starts less than two hours after your usual closing time, you do not have to close leading up to the game.
Your premises can otherwise open and sell alcohol from one hour before a game starts.
If a game starts more than two hours after the end of your premises’ usual permitted trading hours, you must close at the usual time, then reopen one hour before the start of the game.
When must premises stop selling alcohol and close?
Premises must stop serving alcohol 30 minutes after the game ends (if this time is outside of your usual permitted trading hours and does not overlap with the lead-up time you are allowed to be open for a subsequent game).
If you hold an on-licence, you must ensure all patrons have left and the premises is closed one hour after the game ends (if this time is outside of your usual permitted trading hours and it does not overlap with the time you are allowed to be open for a subsequent game).
If you hold a club licence, you may remain open after the game ends, but you will not be able to sell alcohol until the usual permitted trading hours (or the time you are allowed to sell alcohol for a subsequent game).
How are premises affected by consecutive games?
If there are more than two hours between the games you have notified for, you need to follow the rules outlined above in the section ‘When must premises stop selling alcohol and close?’. Premises that are required to close one hour after a game ends, such as bars and taverns, can reopen one hour before the next game starts.
If there are less than two hours between games, you can stay open but need to follow the rules for selling alcohol.
Examples of how the opening and closing times for extended trading hours apply in different scenarios are at the end of this factsheet.
One-way door policies
One-way door policies do not apply one hour before, during or one hour after the extended trading hours.
Conditions on the extended trading hours
During the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the amendments to the Act will override certain conditions related to restrictions on trading hours and one-way door policies.
However, you must comply with all other conditions that apply to your usual permitted trading hours such as any restrictions on types of drinks sold, or who the premises can sell and supply alcohol to.
Offences in the Act not overridden by the amendments still apply during extended trading hours (eg it remains an offence to serve intoxicated people).
Not displaying information about the extended trading hours alongside your other licensing information is also an offence under section 259 of the Act and punishable by a fine of up to $5,000.
Licensees in breach of the conditions in the amendments to the Act could have their extended hours revoked immediately. This may happen if a Police officer or licensing inspector files an application for an order under section 280 of the Act such as to vary, revoke, suspend, or cancel a licence.
Templates and guidance
It is important that you fill in the relevant templates and provide all the information required. This will ensure that you meet your responsibilities under the Act, help minimise neighbourhood inconvenience and disruption, and help Police to do their job.
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Last updated 30 May 2022