Metal Dealers Licence

From 2 October 2023, there will be new tax-related requirements put in place by the UK Government in connection with applications for certain types of licence across Scotland and Northern Ireland. The requirements have been in place in England and Wales since April 2022.

In Scotland, this applies to the following types of licence-:

• Taxi Driver
• Private Hire Car Driver
• Booking Office
• Metal Dealer
• Itinerant Metal Dealer

If you are applying for one of the licences above for the first time, we will ask you to read HMRC guidance on what you need to do to be properly registered for tax in the future and provide confirmation that you have done so. Find out more at Confirm your responsibilities when applying for a licence (opens new window)

If you are applying to renew one of the licences above you'll need to complete an online tax check with HMRC prior to submitting your application. Find out more at Complete an online tax check (opens new window)

Please note that if you are a new applicant and have held the same type of licence anywhere in the UK within the 12 months preceding your application the law requires that you complete the tax check with HMRC referred to above for renewals.

Applicants and licence holders should be aware that failure to comply with the above requirements prevents the Council from accepting and considering their application.

About the tax check

The check should take a few minutes every few years and is simply to confirm that applicants for licences are appropriately registered for tax.

Applicants complete the tax check through the GOV.UK Government Gateway website, you will require a Government Gateway User ID and Password. You will only need to answer a few questions to tell HMRC how you pay any tax that may be due on income you earn from your licensed trade. If you do not already have a Government Gateway account, you must sign up to get one at the start of the process for completing the online tax check.

When you've completed the tax check, you'll get a 9-character code, tax check codes are valid for 120 days. You must give this code to the Licensing Team when you make your application. We cannot proceed with your application until the tax check is completed and we have checked your code with HMRC. Please note we will not have access to information about your tax affairs.

If you are applying to renew a licence and fail to provide a valid tax check code your licence will expire on whichever of the following dates is the latest:

• 28 days after we request from you a valid tax check code
• the date your licence expires

If you want to apply for a licence you must submit an application form along with the required documents and the appropriate fee.

Application forms which have guidance notes attached to them and a list of fees are available from the downloads section of this page. You should read the guidance notes carefully before completing your application form.

There are two separate application forms. One is for persons applying for a licence as an individual and the other is to be completed by applicants who are companies, partnership or organisations.

All applications are copied to the Council's advisors who can recommend that conditions in addition to the standard conditions detailed on this page are attached to the licence when granted. If you do not want to accept any recommended conditions then the application would be referred to the Licensing Committee for a decision to be made regarding which conditions will apply to your licence. Mandatory background checks will be carried out on all applicants by Police Scotland and applicants' details will be retained on computer. You will be contacted once vetting is complete.

Please note the legal requirement for:

• a site notice, completed correctly, to be displayed at or near the premises for a period of 21 days from and including the date on which you make your application,

and

• a certificate of compliance, confirming that a site notice has been displayed correctly, to be provided to the council after that. Please refer to the council's application form and guidance notes for further information regarding this. Please use the templates attached to the application form and guidance notes for your site notice and certificate of confirmation.

Subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all unspent convictions, fixed penalties and alternatives to prosecution  must be declared including all breaches of road traffic law and you can find further information on that by using this link Scottish Government Guidance on Disclosure of Convictions which takes you to guidance from the Scottish Government regarding the disclosure of convictions, including spent convictions or alternatives to prosecution.

If you have previous convictions and have doubts as to which offences are spent you may wish to seek legal advice before completing an application.

If you are a current licence holder and you are charged with any crime or offence, or are issued with a fixed penalty or an alternative to prosecution (including all breaches of road traffic law) you should contact the Licensing Team immediately to provide us with details of the offence.

Any member of the public can make an objection or representation about a metal dealer's licence application unless the application is for a temporary licence.

A guidance note explaining how an objection or representation can be made can be viewed here Information on Responding to Licence Applications (PDF, 23 KB)(opens new window)

We have nine months in which to make a decision regarding your application however the majority of applications are determined within 60 days and applications which do not attract any adverse comments or objections are granted by the Chief Solicitor under delegated powers.

All other applications require to be referred to the Licensing Committee for a decision to be made to grant or refuse your application. You will be advised if your application is being referred to the Licensing Committee. The Committee meets on a monthly basis and you will be sent notice of the date and time of the meeting at which your application is to be considered along with a copy of the report on your application. Meetings are held in the West Lothian Civic Centre and you or your representative will be given the opportunity to explain to the committee at the meeting why you consider your application should be granted.

If your application is refused by the Licensing Committee you may have a right of appeal against that decision and can request a written statement of reasons in relation to the decision from the Licensing Team, this must be done within 10 days of the date your application was refused. Appeals against decisions can be made to Livingston Sheriff Court, information regarding the Sheriff Court is available from the Scottish Courts (opens new window)website and you should consult your own legal representative should you wish further information on how to appeal.

The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 contains a number of grounds on which applications can be refused Grounds for Refusal of Civic Licence Applications (PDF, 88 KB)(opens new window) If none of these grounds is found to exist the application must be granted. Licensing caselaw makes it clear that in making decisions on any application under Part II of the 1982 Act a committee should have adequate factual material before it to support its conclusions and any reasons given should be those related to the objects of the civic government licensing legislation.

A metal dealer's licence is issued for a period of 1 year for both the grant or renewal of a licence.

Standard conditions that are applied to metal dealer's licences can be found in the downloads section of this page.

If you are a current licence holder and wish to vary a condition of your licence you need to make a variation application using the form and pay an administration fee. Please note that a separate application must be made for each licence which you wish to be varied. The application form and a list of fees can be found in the downloads section of this page.

Once your application form and fee are received a copy of your application will be sent to the Council's advisors for their comments. If there are no adverse comments received from advisors the licence can be varied by the Chief Solicitor using delegated powers.

However if any adverse comments are received the application would then need to be referred to the next suitable Licensing Committee for a decision to be taken. If your application needs to go to the committee the whole process may take three to four months depending on how long it takes for the advisors to respond. If your variation application is referred to committee you will be invited to attend the meeting to explain to the committee why you consider your application should be granted.

If you are applying for a new licence or to renew your licence and wish to request that any of the standard conditions be varied you can request that at the time you make your application without making a separate variation application. You should include a letter with your application form explaining what condition you wish varied and the reasons for that. The procedure is the same as for variation applications and if any adverse comments are received the application would then need to be referred to the next suitable Licensing Committee for a decision to be taken on the grant or renewal of the application including your request for the conditions to be varied.

You should notify us as soon as you can if your details change or any of the information given in your application becomes out of date due to a change in your circumstances.

If you no longer wish to hold your licence you can surrender it to the council at any time by returning your licence together with a letter stating that you wish to surrender it. If you surrender your licence it will cease to have effect.

The following list contains details of licence holders, the list is updated regularly and at least every 12 weeks and gives details of the name of the licence holder and premises address. For the avoidance of doubt this is the only information available to members of the public.

Current List of Metal Dealer Licence Holders (PDF, 97 KB)(opens new window)

Complaints regarding licence holders may be made to the Licensing Team. These should be made in writing by email to the Licensing Team (opens new window) or letter and give all the information you can about the nature of the complaint including the date, time and location.

Complaints regarding unlicensed second hand dealers should be made to Police Scotland by calling 101.