Luton Borough Council

Primary authority partnerships

A government scheme called Primary Authority Partnerships may apply to your business if you have premises trading across council boundaries, and can now be offered to single site businesses.

It allows a business to form a partnership with just one local authority that gives assured advice to help the business comply with environmental health, health & safety, trading standards and some licensing rules. This advice is then valid in any other council area in England and so reduces the duplication and the risk of the business failing to comply with the law.

Primary Authority Partnerships are a statutory scheme under the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 (as amended) for businesses that trade in more than one local authority (primary) area. The Primary Authority Partnership Scheme allows trade associations to form co-ordinated partnerships with local authorities on behalf of their members.

Under the scheme local authorities can recover costs for providing businesses with reliable regulatory advice. This will reduce administrative burdens of regulation and protection from enforcement actions where inconsistent advice is provided.

The Primary Authority Partnership Scheme allows a local authority to provide the fullest range of support to businesses. Examples of services which we can provide under the Primary Authority Partnership Scheme are:

to review policy and procedures to make sure legal compliance
risk based inspections plans
comprehensive business advice
complaints and referrals from other local authority areas
co-ordinated advice to trade association members

If you would like to discuss forming a Primary Authority Partnership with us please contact us via email: [email protected]

More details on Primary Authority Partnerships can be found on the Regulatory Delivery website.

Business advice fees and charges

You can form a Primary Authority Partnership if you:

trade within two or more local authority areas
are a single business
are an internet based company or
a trade association

Charging under a primary authority partnership is on a cost recovery basis. The amount of time required will depend on the amount of time agreed according to the needs your business, this will vary between partnerships. Please contact us through our website to arrange a meeting or telephone contact to discuss your requirements at [email protected] Typically our Primary Authority Partnerships start at a minimum of 1 day per month using our traded service day rate.

The types of activities that can be included in the work of the Primary Authority Partnership are:

referrals
trade enquiries
regular meetings
issuing primary authority advice
complaints and trends analysis
review of process and procedures
legislation updates
staff training
other activities as agreed between the parties

If you are looking to start up a business in Luton or your business only has outlets within Luton, we will provide you with some initial advice for free.

If you would like to find out more about forming a primary authority partnership with us please contact us via [email protected]