Licensing types Scrap and motor salvage

Tax obligations: From 4 of April 2022, any renewal application will have to provide proof of potential tax obligations. Each applicant will be required to provide a code from HMRC to confirm that a tax check has been completed. Any new applicant will be required to declare that they are aware of their tax obligations.

To complete a tax check you'll need to follow the guidance on the GOV.UK website.

The dealing in scrap metal or the running of a scrap metal business (including motor salvage operators) is controlled by the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. No one can carry out the business of dealing in scrap metal unless they have a licence. A person carries on business as a scrap metal dealer if that person:

(a) Carries on a business which consists wholly or partly in buying or selling scrap metal, whether or not the metal is sold in the form in which it was bought, or

(b) Carries on business as a motor salvage operator.

Trading without a licence is a criminal offence, for which the offender can be fined if convicted. Tradespersons won't require a scrap metal dealer’s licence if buying or selling scrap metal is an incidental function of their core business (eg being a plumber or electrician). However, courts will apply the ‘reasonable person’ test when assessing whether the buying or selling scrap metal is wholly or partly the focus of the business, or whether it's an incidental function.

Scrap metal includes:

• Any old, waste or discarded metal or metallic material
  
• Any product, article or assembly which is made from or contains metal and is broken, worn out or 
• Regarded by its last holder as having reached the end of its useful life
  

But it does not include:

• Gold
  
• Silver
  
• Any alloy of which two per cent or more by weight is attributable to gold or silver

Contact us

If you have an enquiry, please get in touch by calling 0345 678 9026 or emailing licensing@shropshire.gov.uk.