The DCMS has now published its intended fees, which are subject to consultation up to December 23rd. There are five fee bands based on Non-Domestic Rateable Value of £0-4300, £4301-£33000, £33001-87000, £87001-£125000 and over £125000. The initial fees for these are - £80, £150, £250, £350 and £500 respectively. The annual charge for maintaining the licences are £40, £125, £175, £200 and £225 respectively.

For those who have been questioning whether the fees will indeed be set so that there is no difference in fee as a result of the inclusion of entertainment - this draft should lay there minds at rest. There is an indication that (although a few individual local authorities may still press for the principle to be changed) the local authority associations have accepted the single fee level concept.

The lowest fee levels are somewhat higher than ministers have spoken of in the past, but very much smaller than the worst speculations of rumour-mongers. It is also noteworthy that although the top and bottom annual renewal fees are in line with previous indications that continuation without change would be half the new licence fee. The other three bands are significantly more than 50% and in the case of the relatively common band 2 they are over 80%.

Whilst it is relatively easy to ascertain the suggested fees for a particular set of premises, since the NDRV is a published figure, the general impact needs an overall knowledge of how NDRVs are distributed for relevant types of premises.

There is a stated expectation that the currently notoriously expensive local authorities (notably in central London) will have to make do with the fact that the typical rateable value in their areas is much higher than the rest of the country so they will have more high fee incomes.

Richard