Kensington and Chelsea Council is updating its licensing policy to better address modern slavery and child exploitation within licensed premises. The revisions follow a public consultation and aim to balance the needs of the borough's hospitality and night-time economies with the well-being of local residents.

The Kensington and Chelsea Licensing Committee met on Thursday, 16 October 2025, to discuss proposed revisions to the Statement of Licensing Policy, with a focus on changes made after a public consultation. The updated policy, set to cover 2026-2031, includes new measures for monitoring and enforcement to ensure compliance.

The revisions include the addition of new sections addressing welfare, vulnerability, and modern slavery. These sections emphasise the need for operators to adopt policies and training programs to reduce customer and staff vulnerability and to prevent child exploitation, particularly in hotels. Cllr Janet Evans, Chair of the Licensing Committee, thanked the committee and officers for their hard work on the statement.

To help licensed premises develop and implement the required policies and training programs, the Licensing Authority provides a pre-application advice service. Details can be found on the Council's website.

The consultation, which ran from 9 June to 31 August 2025, gathered over 70 responses, mainly from residents and residents' groups. Some respondents supported the inclusion of schemes to protect women and girls from violence within licensed premises.

According to the Public Reports Pack, Appendix A summarises the proposed revisions made to the current 2025 Statement of Licensing Policy prior to the public consultation. These include:

  • Addition of a new Section 12 (Hotels) detailing how the Licensing Authority will treat applications for hotels and how they must ensure staff are trained to prevent child exploitation.
  • Addition of a new Section 27 (Welfare and Vulnerability) emphasising the need for operators to adopt policies and schemes that aim to reduce or prevent customer and staff vulnerability and ensure staff receive appropriate training.
  • Addition of a new Section 28 (Modern Slavery).

Appendix B of the Public Reports Pack summarised the responses to the public consultation held between 9 June 2025 – 31 August 2025. The report pack notes that all feedback was considered and, where appropriate, further amendments were made to the policy. No representations were received from any responsible authorities during the consultation.

The Licensing Authority intends to take a 'graduated response' to any breaches of the Licensing Act, dependent upon the seriousness of the breach. This response will range from giving a verbal warning to the relevant person, a warning letter, issuing a simple caution, prosecution, review of the premises licence and or seeking a revocation of the licence.

The updated Statement of Licensing Policy (Appendix C) is scheduled to go before the Leadership Team on 12 November 2025, and then to the Full Council on 3 December 2025, for final approval.