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Information for Licensees

The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act requires licensees to meet certain responsibilities such as ensuring your duty manager is certified, your staff are trained, you keep a managers register and are complying by the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act and associated regulations.

Go to information on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012

Go to information on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Regulations 2013

Premises Toolkits

Depending on what licence you have there are different toolkit options

  • On licence premises toolkit
  • Off licence premises toolkit for bottle stores
  • Clubs toolkit

This will set you up with all the information you require to ensure you are complying with your licence. Ultimately it enables you to collate all information into one folder.

Appointing managers

You must notify the committee and police when you:

  • Appoint a new certified manager
  • Cancel or terminate a certified manager
  • Hire a temporary or acting manager

Use the Notice of Management Change form via the link below to notify both the committee and police.

The Committee may, within five working days of receiving this notice, inform the licensee that it does not approve the appointment.

Go to our Notice of Management Change form page

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 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 at any one time because of manager illness or absence 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 appointment is recorded in your manager's register
  • you keep copies of all 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 managers register must contain the following details for each manager:

  • full name, date of birth and gender
  • the number and expiry date of manager’s certificate
  • date of appointment and if applicable the date of termination
  • a copy of their managers
  • a copy of the Notice of Management Change form

Your manager’s register is a working document that should be updated as changes happen. This information must be kept for at least 2 years since date recorded.

Feel free to download this example of a managers register template which you are able to tailor/use.

Systems, staff and training – best practice 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.

The committee requires evidence of training systems in place, or information around what systems will be used, with all applications.

Systems

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 of 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 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 resources from the Health Promotion Agency. Order them from HPA’s website click link to website:
    Go to the Heath Promotion Agency website
    1. The Bar Code: frontline bar staff and the law
    2. Host Responsibility: guidelines for licensed premises
    3. The Managers Guide 2014
    4. Intoxication assessment guideline
  • Many organisations have their own in-house training packages that all staff must complete/attend on a regular basis. 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 managers certificate.
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