Personal licence lost, out of date or changed: what to do in England and Wales

The short version

• Your licence has no expiry. Since 1 April 2015 a personal licence has effect indefinitely, so a date printed on an older licence no longer matters. The one exception is a licence that had already run out before that date.
• Lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed? Apply for a certified copy to the council that issued it. The fee is £10.50.
• Moved or changed your name? You must tell the council as soon as reasonably practicable, with the licence, and pay £10.50.
• Convicted of a relevant offence? You must tell the council unless the court has already done so, and always for a foreign offence.
• What ends a licence: surrender, revocation, forfeiture by a court, or losing your right to work in the UK. It has no effect while suspended.

“My licence has expired”

Until 2015 a personal licence ran for 10 years and had to be renewed. The Deregulation Act 2015 removed that. Section 115 of the Licensing Act 2003 now says a personal licence has effect indefinitely, and that change took effect on 1 April 2015.

Home Office guidance says the same: personal licences remain valid unless surrendered, suspended, revoked or declared forfeit by the courts. It adds that licences issued before the 2015 Act have expiry dates, but these licences remain valid and the dates no longer have an effect. So if your card says it expires in, say, 2025, you do not need to renew it. The 2015 Act kept alive licences “for a period expiring on or after” 1 April 2015. Personal licences were first granted in 2005, so a licence whose date fell before 1 April 2015 and was never renewed had already ended. If yours is one of those, ask the council that issued it. Otherwise you only need to act if one of the changes below applies.

Lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed

Section 126 of the Act lets the holder of a lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed licence apply to the “relevant licensing authority” for a copy. If the authority is satisfied about what happened, it must issue a copy certified as a true copy. The copy has the same form as the original, and the Act treats it as the licence.

• Who to ask. The council that issued your licence. Home Office guidance says it stays the relevant authority even if you move away or change job, and the licence shows which council it is.
• The fee. £10.50. The Licensing Act 2003 (Fees) Regulations 2005 set it for an application under section 126. Later amendments to that schedule (2009, 2014 and 2017) did not change the section 126 or 127 fees, and a council such as BCP still quotes £10.50 on its page.
• How. Procedures vary. BCP takes the application online and asks for a new passport-style photo. Other councils use a form by post or email. Tell the council what happened and give your licence number if you know it.

If your details have also changed, apply for the change of name or address instead and explain you no longer have the licence.

The qualification certificate is a different document from the licence. If it is the certificate you have lost, ask the awarding organisation or training provider that issued it. This guide covers the licence only.

Moving house or changing your name

Section 127 says a holder must, as soon as reasonably practicable, tell the relevant licensing authority of any change in the name or address stated in the licence. The notice must come with the licence or, if that is not practicable, a statement of the reasons. The fee is £10.50.

Failing to do this without a reasonable excuse is an offence. The penalty on summary conviction is a fine of up to level 2 on the standard scale. The Act does not say what proof a council may ask for, so check your council’s page.

Convictions

Where a court in England and Wales knows you hold a personal licence, section 131 makes the court tell the council. Section 132 covers the rest: a licence holder must notify the council of a conviction for a relevant offence where the court did not, or for a foreign offence, and since 6 April 2017 of a requirement to pay an immigration penalty. You give the nature and date of the conviction and any sentence, and tell the council the result of any appeal. The notice must be made as soon as reasonably practicable and sent with the licence. Failing to do so without a reasonable excuse is also an offence with a level 2 fine.

Home Office guidance says a council can revoke a licence or suspend it for up to six months after a relevant conviction, a foreign offence or an immigration penalty, and gives the holder 28 days to make representations. The council may not act while an appeal is pending, or before the time limit for appealing has expired.

What ends a personal licence

Section 115 says a licence stops having effect if you surrender it, if it is revoked or forfeited, or, for applications made on or after 6 April 2017, if you stop being entitled to work in the UK. It does not have effect while suspended, but it is not ended. If you are on time-limited immigration permission, Home Office guidance says the licence becomes invalid when the permission ends.

If you do not have a licence yet

You must be 18 or over and hold a licensing qualification such as the Award for Personal Licence Holders (APLH) Level 2, then apply to your local authority, according to GOV.UK. Our free APLH practice quiz has 25 original questions with answers and Licensing Act section references. The paid question bank has 245 original questions for £9. It is practice material we wrote, not from any awarding body or council.

Sources

Last checked 2 November 2026.

• Licensing Act 2003, section 115 (period of validity), legislation.gov.uk
• Licensing Act 2003, section 126 (theft, loss, etc. of personal licence), legislation.gov.uk
• Licensing Act 2003, section 127 (duty to notify change of name or address), legislation.gov.uk
• Licensing Act 2003, section 132 (duty to notify of convictions), legislation.gov.uk
• Licensing Act 2003, section 131 (court’s duty to notify licensing authority of convictions), legislation.gov.uk
• Deregulation Act 2015, section 69 (personal licences: no requirement to renew), legislation.gov.uk: which older licences it covers
• The Licensing Act 2003 (Fees) Regulations 2005, Schedule 6, legislation.gov.uk (original text; legislation.gov.uk has not applied later amendments, which we read in the amending regulations S.I. 2009/1809 and S.I. 2017/411)
• Revised Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003, chapter 4, Home Office (September 2026)
• Apply for a personal licence to sell alcohol, GOV.UK
• Request a replacement personal licence to sell alcohol, BCP Council

Changes to this guide

• 2 November 2026: Corrected the APLH question bank size to 245 (it said 234). Re-checked the sources.
• 26 October 2026: Draft written and fact-checked. Corrected the “expired in 2013” example and the pre-2015 exception, the conviction-notice rule (sections 131 and 132) and the wording on suspension.

This guide is general information written from the official sources listed above and checked on 2 November 2026. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and Plainfiles is not endorsed by any government body. Rules change, so check the linked official pages for your own situation. Written and designed by Plainfiles with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, then checked against the official legislation and guidance listed in the sources. How we write and check our guides.