WITH official reports this week suggesting that 10 million working days could be wiped out through over-indulgence at office parties, spare a thought for the beleaguered bar staff.

And there are many to feel sorry for. The hospitality trade employs 600,000 of them, enough to populate the city of Leicester twice over.

Any of them could fall foul of new laws designed to keep the nation in check - not only this Christmas and new year but for the long term. As licensing laws become ever more liberalised, the powers of police to prosecute are increasing.

This has created an imperative for staff in the most fluid of Britain’s casual trades to gain a wide range of social as well as professional skills.

Question: When should a bar-person refuse to serve a potential customer a drink? Is it 1) If they appear to be nervous 2) If they look very hot 3) If they look under age?

It’s hardly University Challenge but the licensing trade’s equivalent of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? could help to transform the quality of service offered in pubs throughout the country and save two city-loads of people from prosecution.

From this month, bar staff throughout England and Wales are being offered the chance to gen up on the gin trade and pick up a new qualification. It will prove that they know not only the licensing laws but also their social responsibilities.

The catchily titled Barperson’s National Certificate was developed by the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) - the professional body representing 15,500 licensees - with the help of the Magistrates’ Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the licensing trade.

Recent changes in the law prompted its creation. In-house training and national vocational qualifications did not measure up. They failed to provide “transferable skills” needed for the often very casual trade. They took too much time and were insufficiently practical.

In addition, police now have powers to do spot checks on under-age drinkers by sending children into pubs and clubs to see if they get served. If so, both the bar staff and licensees will be nicked.

The course includes a workbook which the staff complete before taking an automated telephone assessment, at a cost of pound;20. To pass, they must get 21 out of 30 multiple-choice questions correct.

The qualification gained also counts towards the Professional Barperson’s Qualification, which is currently under development. This will cover skills such as how to dispense drinks properly and how to give good customer service.

It may sound easy, but tricks such as catching or avoiding a potential customer or queue-jumper’s eye, or calculating change accurately without an automated till, are skills which are too often lacking.

Cathie Smith, BII’s director of qualifications, said: “It’s the most important development in licensing retailing qualifications since the creation of the National Licensee’s Certificate in 1994.

“The qualification has been developed to ensure that bar staff are fully aware of the law and how to operate within it. It will also put bar staff on the first rung of a career path backed by qualifications.”

The telephone assessment makes the qualification easy to access and available to all licensed retail premises. The institute says a qualifications ladder in the licensing trade is beginning to evolve. A similar Door Supervisors National Certificate is now required before most magistrates will issue public entertainment licenses.

In July the institute launched the Licensee’s National Drugs Certificate to ensure that licensees know the law and have strategies for dealing with drug problems. Licensees wishing to sit the qualification can either take a course at a centre accredited by the institutes involved, or they can study the drugs handbook and take a multiple-choice examination. Candidates must score 80 per cent to pass.

As the festive season reaches its peak, it is no good bar staff pleading ignorance. And illegal drinkers should remember that they could wake up with a headache from much more than booze.