Scrap the Table Tax
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
The problem with the Table Tax
In order to put tables and chairs outside, hospitality businesses must first apply and often pay for a ‘pavement licence’. Before the pandemic, through the Highways Act 1980, businesses could apply for a pavement licence but application fees were very variable and there was a minimum 28 day consultation period. The Covid-era Business and Planning Act 2020 temporarily streamlined the process, with businesses able to secure a one-year licence for a £100 fee within 14 days. The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 made these changes permanent. Councils can now charge up to £500 for a new licence application, £350 to renew, for a licence up to 2 years, with licences taking up to 28 days to secure.
Businesses now face a patchwork of rules, paperwork, and fees that vary widely depending on postcode. Each council has its own licensing regime and businesses are paying the price. While a handful of councils, including in Wandsworth and Blaby, do not charge anything for a licence, almost all do, with the costs, rules, and length of licences varying wildly across England. Some particularly egregious examples include:
Westminster City Council only grants licences for 3 to 6 months at a time, with hospitality businesses having to pay £350 for every renewal.
Watford Borough Council has created a tiered system where businesses pay different rates based on how many chairs they have, punishing them for increasing their customer footfall (1-6 seats = £100; 7-11 = £200; 12+ = £350).
Manchester City Council has created a tiered system, with different conditions which determine whether licenses are granted for 6, 12, or 24 months.
Created with the best of intentions, this licence has essentially become a Table Tax. It is a ridiculous additional cost for hospitality businesses at a time when they are already facing so many other financial pressures brought about by this Government, not to mention the paperwork which adds an unnecessary regulatory burden. This is not sensible regulation. It is arbitrary and economically counterproductive.
The instinct to regulate is holding Britain back. The Government’s instinct to regulate overshadowed the opportunity to liberalise. This is an instinct that is holding Britain back. The Table Tax reflects a mindset that sees communal places as something to be tightly controlled, rather than shared and enjoyed. These small acts of enterprise should not be treated as risks to be managed. They are opportunities to be embraced.
The solution
Scrap the Table Tax. As long as the pavements remain accessible for pedestrians, businesses should be allowed to put chairs and tables outside without needing a licence and without paying for the privilege. Councils already have to let businesses know what that means, practically and legally, in order to approve or reject a pavement licence application. If a business can provide outdoor seating in line with these existing rules, it should be free to do so without needing a licence. For the sake of the economy, the local environment, community pride, and efforts to regenerate high streets, the Government should scrap the Table Tax.
What you can do locally
Reduce your pavement licence fee to £0 and offer the maximum licence length. While councils are legally unable to scrap the Table Tax completely, you can ease the bureaucratic and financial burden for local hospitality businesses by eliminating the fee and only requiring businesses to renew their licence every two years.
Table a motion in support of scrapping the Table Tax. If your authority does not administer the pavement licence, you can submit a motion in support of scrapping the Table Tax instead. This motion can call on the relevant council to take the actions listed in the point above and the Government to scrap the Table Tax altogether. A draft motion can be found at the end of this briefing.
Sign our petition to scrap the Table Tax. This petition, which calls on the Government to scrap the Table Tax, is available to read and sign here. We also encourage you to post it on social media, encouraging local residents and business owners to sign.
Support local businesses having to pay the Table Tax. Many of your local hospitality businesses will currently be paying and applying for a Table Tax. Show your support for them by visiting the business and also consider posting a photo on social media of you sat on their pavement seating using the hashtag #ScrapTheTableTax.
Benefits of scrapping the table tax
Removes a ridiculous and economically counterproductive business cost. Hospitality businesses are grappling rising costs, from increased business rates and national insurance contributions to spiralling energy bills. In this light, charging to put a few tables and chairs outside seems like a rip-off. Every chair and every table removed from our high streets because a business can’t afford to keep them there anymore is a failure of good government. Scrapping the Table Tax would be a small but meaningful step to ease the cumulative burden that businesses are facing.
Cuts pettifogging bureaucracy and lowers the regulatory burden. The current system forces time-poor business owners and council officers to abide by arbitrary rules and paperwork. Removing the licence requirement would allow businesses to focus on customers and growth and councils to redirect their overstretched resources to provide more valuable services for residents.
Ends the arbitrary postcode lottery. The existing regime is inconsistent and incoherent, with costs, conditions, and licence lengths varying wildly across England. Scrapping the tax would end this patchwork system.
Boosts footfall and revitalises high streets. Vibrant town centres are not really sustained by Whitehall funding pots or gimmicky VAT cuts, but by lowering the barriers to everyday enterprise. Outdoor seating is an easy way to increase footfall and make high streets more attractive destinations. Scrapping the Table Tax would help bring energy and activity back to town centres without government interventions.
Strengthens community life and civic pride. Sitting outside is an essential way of turning streets into communities. The more people spend time in their community, the more they will care about it and seek to improve it. What someone is looking at when they sit on that pavement - a congested road, air and noise pollution, or mounting piles of rubbish - starts to matter more than when you are power walking past it.
Draft motion
This Council:
notes that:
[Council name] charges [£X] for a new pavement licence and [£X] for a licence renewal, with the licence lasting up to [months/years].
Rules on street safety already exist and can be applied without a licence. Councils already have to let businesses know what a safe and accessible pavement is, practically and legally speaking, in order to approve or reject a pavement licence application. With the rules already clear, the need to issue a licence is, therefore, unnecessary.
believes that:
This licence system has essentially become a Table Tax. It is a ridiculous additional cost for hospitality businesses at a time when they are already facing so many other financial pressures brought about by this government, not to mention the paperwork which adds an unnecessary regulatory burden.
Scrapping the requirement for a pavement licence can boost our local economy and revitalise our high streets. The Chancellor’s Summer of Fun initiative will not address the root cause of the financial problems facing British people and businesses. Similarly, vibrant town centres are not really sustained by Whitehall funding pots or gimmicky VAT cuts, but by lowering the barriers to everyday enterprise.
Outdoor seating is an easy way to increase footfall and make high streets more attractive destinations. Scrapping the Table Tax would help bring energy and activity back to town centres without the need for government interventions and the spending of taxpayer money.
Al fresco dining strengthens community life and civic pride. Sitting outside is not just a lifestyle preference; it is an essential way of turning streets into communities. The more people spend time in their community, the more they will care about it and seek to improve it. What someone is looking at when they sit on that pavement - a congested road, air pollution, or mounting piles of rubbish - starts to matter more.
resolves to [delete as appropriate]:
Eliminate the pavement licence fee for local businesses.
Increase the length of a pavement licence to two years, the current legal maximum length.
Call on [relevant local council] to eliminate the pavement licence fee and increase the length of a pavement licence to two years, the current legal maximum length.
Call on the UK Government to remove the legal requirement for a pavement licence in favour of a more permissive system that does not require businesses to apply and pay for a licence in order to provide customers with pavement seating.
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