Trade licences and approvals

The licences nobody tells you apply until they stop you trading

Alcohol, medicines, food, waste and construction each have a registration that catches people out. Here is who needs each one, what it costs, how long it takes and where it goes wrong, from the procedures we run.

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HMRC · Alcohol

Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS)

Anyone selling alcohol to other businesses for resale needs HMRC approval before they trade. That includes a wholesaler who sells one case to a corner shop, and it includes a general wholesaler adding a drinks line.

There is no fee. There is a fit-and-proper assessment of the people running the business, and a minimum notice period of 45 days before the intended start of trading, which is the part that catches clients out constantly.

We prepare the application and the supporting evidence. We do not advise on fitness and we do not submit anything unreviewed: a specialist looks at it first.

  • WhoSells alcohol to other businesses for resale
  • FeeNone from HMRC
  • Timing45 days minimum notice
  • TestFit-and-proper assessment
  • Goes wrongTrading before approval is an offence. If that has already happened, it is a specialist conversation before anything is submitted.
MHRA · Medicines

Wholesale Dealer Licence for human medicines, WDA(H)

Wholesaling human medicines needs a licence from the MHRA. Expect a four-figure application fee, a process of around 90 days, a site inspection and a qualified Responsible Person on call.

For a genuine pharmaceutical wholesaler that is simply the cost of entry, and the right answer. For a general wholesaler who has been told medicines are a good margin, it usually is not. Our first job is honest qualification, and we say no when the answer is no.

We scope the application with a specialist who delivers it. We will not set a pharmaceutical SIC code on a company that does not hold the licence: a public register entry claiming a regulated activity the business cannot lawfully perform is a liability, not a marketing asset.

  • WhoWholesalers of human medicines
  • FeeFour figures, paid to MHRA
  • TimingAround 90 days
  • NeedsSite inspection, Responsible Person
  • Goes wrongClaiming the SIC code without the licence.
Local authority · Food

Food business registration

Anyone who sells, stores, handles, prepares or distributes food must register with their local authority at least 28 days before starting. That reaches far wider than restaurants: office-based food brokers with no food on the premises, and online-only sellers, both count.

It is free, it cannot be refused, and it puts the business on the local authority’s inspection list for food hygiene. Registration is not approval, and it does not trigger an inspection on the day.

We register the business with the correct authority and the correct activity, which is what determines what the inspector expects to see.

  • WhoAnyone in the food chain, including brokers and online sellers
  • FeeNone
  • Timing35 minutes; register 28 days before trading
  • Goes wrongAssuming it only applies to premises that cook.
Environment Agency · Waste

Waste carrier, broker or dealer registration

This catches builders, clearance firms and a lot of logistics operators who have no idea it applies to them. If you carry waste as part of your business, even your own construction waste from a job, you need to be registered.

The tier is the thing everybody gets wrong. Lower tier is free but only covers your own waste in narrow circumstances. Upper tier covers carrying other people’s waste. Picking lower tier because it is free, when you carry other people’s waste, leaves you effectively unregistered.

We ask what you actually carry and register the tier that matches.

  • WhoBuilders, clearance, logistics, anyone moving waste
  • FeeLower tier free; upper tier a modest registration fee
  • Timing40 minutes
  • Goes wrongThe wrong tier is the same as no registration.
HMRC · Construction

CIS gross payment status

Without gross status, a contractor withholds 20% of every payment to a construction subcontractor, or 30% if the subcontractor is not CIS-registered at all, and the money sits with HMRC until the year end. On £200,000 of turnover that is £40,000 of cash flow.

Gross status costs nothing to apply for. It is granted on a compliance test: your tax filings and payments have to be on time and in order. That is exactly the record our filing work creates, and a company that has been late on everything cannot get gross status until the record is clean.

We prepare the application; you submit it. For the payroll side of construction, PAYE and CIS run together through We Switch Payroll.

  • WhoConstruction subcontractors
  • FeeNone
  • TimingAn hour to prepare; HMRC decides on your record
  • Value20% of every payment back in your account
  • Goes wrongApplying with an untidy filing record. Fix the record first.

Straight answers

Common questions

Can you guarantee a licence will be granted?

No, and be wary of anyone who says they can. AWRS has a fit-and-proper test and MHRA inspects. What we can do is tell you honestly, before any fee is paid, whether an application is likely to succeed and what needs fixing first.

I am already trading without the approval. What now?

Stop, and talk to us today. For AWRS in particular, trading without approval is an offence and the conversation has to go to a specialist before anything is submitted. We will not file an application that pretends the trading has not happened.

Which registrations are free?

EORI, food business registration and the lower waste carrier tier carry no fee. AWRS has no HMRC fee but has the notice period. VAT and UTR are free to obtain. MHRA charges an application fee. We charge for our time on all of them and say so up front.

Tell us what you sell, move or handle

We will tell you which of these apply, which are free, and in what order they have to happen.

Book a call

Book a call

Send us what you have. Even a photo.

A short call, no pressure. We check the public register before we speak to you, so we can tell you what is actually due, what it will cost if it is left, and which of it we can take off your desk this week.

Email: [email protected]

Supreme Business Advisory Ltd, company number 17025531. London.

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