What is a Personal Functional Licence?
A Personal Functional Licence or PFL is a certificate that must be obtained by all professionals who wish to become involved in the gambling and casino industry. According to the UKGC, the license is legally required for the following gambling professions: a dealer, a cashier, a gaming supervisor and security staff. The PFL applications are processed within 8 weeks given that all the required information is provided. A list of all documents required could be found on the UKGC’s official website.
UKGC Launches an Upgraded PFL Application Service
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has officially announced that an improved online PFL application service shall be available from the 4th of December 2018. The upgraded system is already live and could be accessed from the UKGC’s official website link. The redesigned and improved application portal follows the example of the UK Government’s GOV.UK, which has been stylistically built to provide users with an optimal functionality. The Gambling Commission hopes that the new system will ease the application process and will provide the users with the necessary support on the way. The UKGC’s official press release from the 3rd of December 2018 reads that:
“The service gives applicants an efficient, streamlined and improved service. It follows the in line with the GOV.UK design, making it quicker and easier to submit an application. Supporting this new application service will be an improved processing tool to be used by the Commission’s licensing staff that includes the introduction of electronic Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) checks. These improvements should result in applications being assessed more quickly.”
As a part of the new developments, the applicants will also receive email and text alerts informing them of the progress of their applications from the moment of submission until the final stage when the license is issued, or the application has been rejected.
The UKGC’s official press release also states that the improved licence application process is a part of the Gambling Commission’s commitment to improve the way, in which they regulate the Gambling industry by simplifying, automating and digitising the application processes. There are more ongoing upgrades at work such as a new personal licence management and maintenance tool, which should be available by the end of March 2019.
For the applicants’ convenience, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission has released an official video tutorial demonstrating each step of the upgraded PFL application service. You can watch the video below:
