Liverpool cannot afford to scrap late-night bar levy, council told

The levy is paid by venues which serve drinks from midnight until 06:00 on one or more days in a year

A night levy on a city's bars is set to continue as a council "cannot afford" to scrap it, a committee has heard.

The charge, which was introduced in Liverpool in 2016, has raised £1.5m towards policing and street cleaning.

Businesses had asked Liverpool City Council's licensing committee to scrap the levy, which was "inappropriate" in the cost of living crisis.

However, the committee rejected the plea, with councillor Steve Munby calling the request "unconscionable".

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the fee, which ranges between between £299 and £4,440 a year, was paid by holders of premises licences, or club premises certificates, and covered venues which served drinks from midnight until 06:00 on one or more days in a year.

A report by industry body Night Time Economy Solutions (NTES) found 45% of the 150 respondents perceived the levy as negative, while 46% thought it was not achieving its aims of funding policing and cutting crime and disorder.

'Cold hard cash'

NTES's Alicia Souter told the committee some respondents considered the levy an "added bill" and "inappropriate" due to the cost of living crisis.

She added that the report recommended scrapping the fee.

Mr Mundy said the response was a "tiny fraction" of the economy and any approach had to be balanced.

He said budgets in the public sector were "under enormous pressure" and the levy represented a small amount of money acting as a public good.

"How can we ask people to pay more council tax and the hospitality sector not to contribute?" he said.

"It's unconscionable to consider scrapping it."

Councillor Alfie Hincks said the levy represented an important part of the budget and something it "can't afford to scrap", but there needed to be better engagement with stakeholders.

Councillor Liam Robinson said he was sceptical about scrapping the levy owing to the "cold hard cash" element of the plans.

He added that the impact of doing away with the scheme would fall on to wider public sector budgets but would not object to improvements to the levy in future.

The committee subsequently voted to retain the levy.

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