Scrap metal dealer licences

It is an offence to trade as a scrap metal dealer if you do not have a licence.

A scrap metal dealer is a person who is carrying out business selling or trading scrap metal. A dealer must have a scrap metal licence.  

 Scrap metal is: 

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

The following is not seen as scrap metal: 

• gold 
• silver  
• any alloy of which 2% or more by weight is gold or silver. 

Apply for a licence

You can download and complete the application form below. Return your completed application by emailing licensing@scambs.gov.uk.

Apply for a scrap mental licence

Types of licences

Site licence: a site licence lets you buy and sell scrap metal from a set place. All the sites where a licenced dealer carries out their business as a scrap metal dealer have to be listed on the licence. A site manager must be named for each site, and their names must appear on the licence. A site licence allows the licensed person to move scrap metal to and from those sites.

Collector’s licence: a collector’s licence allows you to travel within the council area to collect scrap metal. You may not take this metal back to a site that you run within the council area in order to sell it. It does not allow the collector to collect scrap metal in any other council area, so a separate licence would need to be applied for from each council the collector wants to collect in. The licence also does not allow the collector to run a site from where they can sell and trade scrap metal.

A dealer can only hold one type of licence in any one local council area. You have to decide whether you’re going to have a site or a mobile licence in any one area. You cannot hold both a site and collector’s licence from the same council.

Cash payments must not be accepted to buy or sell scrap metal.

Guidance on completing your application

For your application to be valid, you must make sure that:

• the application is fully completed. Where a question does not apply it must be marked as ‘not applicable’
• a basic DBS certificate which is less than 3 months old, must be submitted along with the application (this is for each dealer being listed on the licence)
• a tax check code must be completed for dealers, site managers, directors and company secretaries
• an original waste carriers licence must be submitted with the application (if you have one)

You must pay the fee for your application:

• site licence application fee is £260
• collector licence application fee is £210

If you do not complete these steps, then your application will be returned.

Assessing your application

We will only issue a licence once we are sure that you’re a suitable person to carry out business as a scrap metal dealer.

In the case of a partnership of dealers, this means looking at the suitability of each of the partners in the partnership, or looking at the suitability of directors, company secretaries or shadow directors in the case of a company.

In assessing suitability, we can look at any information we see as relevant. This includes:

• behaviour in running the business
• if you have planning permission for the site
• if you’re registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under the Data Protection Act.