# The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and Pubs Code etc. (Amendment) Regulations 2021, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and the Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016. In addition to minor and drafting amendments, these Regulations make the following changes of substance.
Schedule 1 amends the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. A business becomes a pub-owning business when it has owned 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales for a period of at least 6 months in the previous financial year. These Regulations reduce the qualification period from 6 months to 3 months in the previous financial year from 1st April 2023.
Schedule 2 amends the Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016. Paragraph 3 amends the definition of “comparison period” for the purposes of calculating whether there has been a “significant price increase” under the Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016. These Regulations amend the comparison period from a 13-month period to a 12-month period.
Paragraphs 4 to 14 and 19 to 20 amend the market rent only (“MRO”) option in the Pubs Code etc Regulations 2016. Paragraph 5 introduces a requirement that the pub-owning business should include rent in a response to an MRO notice.
These Regulations introduce a new procedure when a tied pub tenant receives a response to an MRO notice. The amendments in paragraph 8 allow the tied pub tenant or pub-owning business to refer a response to the Adjudicator within 14 days of receipt if there is a procedural or event dispute. Paragraph 10 provides that if the Adjudicator finds that the response is deficient then the Adjudicator may order the pub-owning business to provide a required full response, which would re-start the resolution period.
Paragraph 9 introduces a “resolution period” of 3 months from the day after the tied pub tenant receives the original (or “full”) response, during which no referrals can be made to the Adjudicator (save for where there is a procedural or event dispute). The tied pub tenant can choose to shorten this period. At the end of the resolution period the pub-owning business may choose to provide an “updated full response”. The proposed tenancy or licence in the original response or updated full response can be referred to the Adjudicator to determine whether it is MRO-compliant, or if the updated full response fails to meet a procedural requirement.
Paragraph 12 provides for a “referral period” which enables referrals to the independent assessor to determine MRO rent in relation to a response provided by the pub-owning business to be made at any time within this period. Once a proposal has been referred to the independent assessor it cannot be subsequently referred to the Adjudicator, save in relation to rent.
Paragraphs 15 and 16 introduce a requirement for a pub-owning business to notify the Adjudicator of the transferee’s name, address, company number and anticipated completion date where the pub-owning business intends to transfer its title in the tied pub in circumstances that will give rise to extended protection under section 69(4) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2021/9780348229561/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-small-business-enterprise-and-employment-act-2015-and-pubs-code-etc-amendment-regulations-2021/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.