To consider an application for a review of a premises licence in respect of: Sweet Chilli, 16/17 Bridge Street, Hereford, HR4 9DF made by West Mercia Police.

Members of the licensing subcommittee of the council’s planning and regulatory committee considered the above application, full details of which appeared before the Members in their agenda and the background papers.

Prior to making their decision the members heard from Fred Spriggs, licensing officer and Jim Mooney, West Mercia Police.

The premises licence holder was not represented at the hearing. The committee heard that no contact had been made during the review period by the premises licence holder with West Mercia Police or the Licensing Authority. Copies of the papers for the hearing had been hand delivered to the premises both by post and hand to ensure that the premises licence holder was aware of the hearing.

Having taken advice, the committee decided to continue with the hearing in the absence of the premises licence holder.

Background

The committee heard from Jim Mooney on behalf of West Mercia Police that the review application had come about as a result of a joint enforcement agency operation that took place on Friday 14 July 2017. At that time officers from the UK Border and Immigration Agency supported by West Mercia Police visited the premises as a result of information that that individuals were working at the premises and were not entitled to entre or remain in the country.

One male from Bangladesh was found working at the premises as a waiter, subsequent enquiries established he outstayed his entitlement to remain in the UK. He was arrested.

The employment of illegal immigrants is defined as serious in the guidance issued under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003. The guidance indicates that serious consideration should be taken to revoke the premises license even if it was the first occasion.

In addition it is the law that employers undertake necessary checks to ensure that individuals are entitled to be in the country and have a right to work. This is contained in the Immigration Act 2016 and is further repeated as a result of changes to the Licensing Act 2003 introduced in April 2017.

There had been no contact from the premises licence holder during the consultation period in order to address the concerns of West Mercia Police to prevent this type of incident happening again. The police approach towards immigration failures of this nature and the requirements of the Licensing Act are on the first occasion to educate but this could only happen if the premises licence holder cooperated. On this occasion this was not the case.

The view of West Mercia Police was that the premises licence holder had failed to promote the licensing objectives by not undertaking the necessary checks prior to employing individuals. The police view was that the premises licence for Sweet Chilli should be revoked.

In response to questions from the committee members it was confirmed that the premises concerned operated on the ground floor and that the premises in the upper floors were unrelated.

DECISION

This is the decision of the licensing sub-committee in respect of a premises review of Sweet Chilli, 16/17 Bridge Street, Hereford, HR4 9DF.

It is the committee’s decision that the following condition should be added to the licence for the premises:

The premises licence holder shall engage the services of an immigration advisor, as agreed in writing with the licensing authority, who shall undertake a review of all existing employees at the premises to check entitlement to live and work in the UK and thereafter independently verify prospective employees’ right to live and work in the UK prior to the employee being engaged to work at the premises.

REASONS

The committee in coming to its decision carefully considered all the representations both written and oral that it had heard, the statutory guidance, the Council’s statement of licensing policy and the provisions of Act. They were mindful that this was the first known offence of this type for the premises licence holder and that only one individual had been found to have outstayed their right to remain and work in the UK. The committee acknowledged that employing an illegal worker was serious but notwithstanding the S182 statutory guidance (para 11.27) they considered that to revoke on this occasion would not be proportionate. They considered the imposition of the additional condition would promote the licensing objectives, particularly the prevention of crime and disorder, and it was considered by the committee that this would be an appropriate and proportionate response to the circumstances of the review.