Do Part-Time, Casual and Seasonal Staff Need Alcohol Training in Scotland?
Yes. Under Scotland’s mandatory staff-training duty (schedule 3, paragraph 6 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005), anyone who sells or serves alcohol must be trained — full stop. There’s no minimum-hours threshold and no exemption for part-time, casual, seasonal, agency staff or volunteers. A student covering two Saturday shifts a month is covered by the same duty as your longest-serving full-timer. Our Scotland alcohol laws guide sets out the full requirement if you want the wider picture.
If you’ve been putting off training a casual hire because “they’re only doing a few shifts”, that reasoning doesn’t hold up under Scottish licensing law, and it’s worth fixing before their next shift rather than after an inspection from your local Licensing Standards Officer (LSO).
Why hours worked don’t matter
The duty attaches to the activity, not the contract. Schedule 3, paragraph 6 doesn’t ask how many hours someone works, whether they’re on the payroll, or whether they’re a permanent employee, a zero-hours casual, or an agency temp. It asks one question: does this person sell or serve alcohol? If the answer is yes, the training requirement applies to them.
That’s a deliberately broad test. A one-shift-a-week pot-washer who occasionally pulls a pint at a busy service is in scope exactly as the full-time bar manager is. A festival volunteer pouring drinks at a beer tent is in scope. The Christmas temp brought in for six weeks of extra cover is in scope from their very first shift behind the bar. A new retail server in the licensed grocer who sells a six-pack of lager is in scope on their very first day.
It’s also worth knowing that “sell” has a wide legal meaning in Scotland. Under section 147 of the Act, it includes “expose to or offer for sale” — so the requirement doesn’t stop at bar staff pulling pints. Till staff in off-licences, corner shops and supermarkets who scan and hand over alcohol are making a sale for the purposes of the law, and they need the same training as anyone working a bar.
By when must they be trained?
Before they work unsupervised in that capacity. The law doesn’t give employers a grace period to get a new starter trained “when there’s time”. The training has to be done before that person is left unattended to sell or serve alcohol on their own, even for a short time. For a manager hiring seasonal or casual staff at short notice, that means training needs to be part of the onboarding sequence, not an afterthought scheduled for whenever the Personal License Holder (PLH) has time or when the next training session comes round.
In practice, not completing the training first is the single most common way employers unintentionally fall out of compliance. A venue takes on three casual staff for a busy weekend, gets them straight onto the floor to cover demand, and only trains staff afterwards because “everyone’s up to speed anyway”. At that point, every shift worked before training was completed is a shift worked in breach of The Act. The best time to arrange training is right after their interview. Having them trained before their first shift is beneficial to any manager.
What about volunteers and event staff?
Volunteers serving at licensed events are in scope too. The training duty doesn’t carve out an exception for unpaid work. If a community event, charity fundraiser, sports club or one-off festival has a licence to sell alcohol and volunteers are the ones handing it over the counter, those volunteers need the same training as paid staff before they serve.
This catches out a lot of well-meaning event organisers who assume the rule is really aimed at commercial premises. It isn’t. The Act is written around the activity of selling or serving alcohol, and it doesn’t distinguish between a paid bartender and a volunteer at a fete. If you’re organising an event with a bar and lining up volunteers to staff it, build training into your event-prep checklist the same way you’d book a licence.
The cost objection, reframed
It’s true that training can be done by the PLH of the premises but it must cover what’s required by The Act (Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005), and the training documented.
The instinct to skip training for someone doing a handful of shifts is understandable, but it’s the wrong place to look for savings. The training itself must take a minimum of two hours, cover the 16 prescribed subjects set out in SSI 2007/397, and produce a Record of Training that stays on the premises for a LSO to inspect. It’s done once per person, not repeated monthly or per season.
Set against that: an untrained casual serving alcohol is a live gap in your premises licence compliance. If a Licensing Standards Officer visits and asks to see training records, “they only work weekends” isn’t a defence — it’s an admission. The two hours it takes to get someone trained is considerably cheaper than the conversation that follows an inspection finding an untrained member of staff behind the bar, and alsoprotects the licence the whole premises depends on. Untrained staff can cause a fine to be issued.
If you’ve got a part-time or casual hire starting a shift this week, enrol your team in the Scotland course now rather than after they’ve already worked unsupervised. It’s online, self-paced, and built to be finished in one sitting before a first shift. A Record of Training is provided right after completion.
Training several casual or seasonal staff at once
Seasonal hiring rarely means training one person at a time. If you’re bringing on a run of Christmas casuals, summer seasonal staff, or a batch of event volunteers together, it’s worth setting up training as a standard step in your onboarding process rather than chasing it up person by person. Each completed course adds to the premises’ Record of Training, which you’ll want to keep organised and accessible — our record of training guide covers what needs to be kept and how to store it so it’s ready if a Licensing Standards Officer asks.
ServeWise Online has trained more than 55,000 learners since 2008, and the course is instantly available and takes around two hours online, so a new staff member can be trained and ready before their first shift starts.
Frequently asked questions
Do casual staff need alcohol training in Scotland?
Yes. The mandatory training duty under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 applies to anyone who sells or serves alcohol, regardless of hours worked or contract type. There’s no exemption for casual staff.
Do seasonal or Christmas staff need it?
Yes. seasonal and temporary staff must complete training before they work unsupervised, the same as any permanent employee. Being a short-term hire doesn’t change the requirement.
Do volunteers need it?
Yes, if they’re serving alcohol at a licensed event. Volunteers are treated the same as paid staff under the training duty — the law looks at what they’re doing, not whether they’re being paid for it.
Is there a minimum number of hours worked before training applies?
No. There’s no hours threshold in the legislation. Someone working one shift a week is covered by the same duty as a full-time member of staff.
How quickly can casual staff complete the training?
Quickly. The course is online and takes around two hours, so it can be completed in a single sitting before a new starter’s first shift.
Training casual, seasonal or part-time staff? Enrol your team in the Scotland course before their first unsupervised shift. It’s online, takes about two hours, and keeps your premises licence protected regardless of how many hours each person works.
