The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013: what a licensed yard has to check, pay and record.

1. Who you may buy from — the ID

“A scrap metal dealer must not receive scrap metal from a person without verifying the person’s full name and address.” s.11(1) The verification must be “by reference to documents, data or other information obtained from a reliable and independent source.” s.11(2)

Which documents count is in the 2013 Regulations, and it is one of two shapes. Either one document with the person’s “full name, photograph and residential address” — a valid UK passport, an EEA passport, a Great Britain or Northern Ireland photo-card driving licence, or a UK biometric immigration document. Or one of those four with “full name, photograph and date of birth” plus a bank or building society statement, a credit or debit card statement, a council tax letter, or a utility bill “but not a mobile telephone bill” — and that second document must be “not more than three months” old on the day the metal comes in.

The Regulations, regulation 2, on legislation.gov.uk

Regulars. The Home Office guidance: “A scrap metal dealer can verify the name and address of repeat suppliers by referring to a copy of the document(s) retained in their records which were used to verify name and address before the first transaction.” (§12.2)

2. How you may pay — no cash

“A scrap metal dealer must not pay for scrap metal except — (a) by a cheque which under section 81A of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882 is not transferable, or (b) by an electronic transfer of funds (authorised by credit or debit card or otherwise).” s.12(1) And “paying includes paying in kind (with goods or services).” s.12(3)

3. What you record when metal comes in

For every load received in the course of business, the dealer “must record the following information” s.13(2):

• “the description of the metal, including its type (or types if mixed), form, condition, weight and any marks identifying previous owners or other distinguishing features”
• “the date and time of its receipt”
• “if the metal is delivered in or on a vehicle, the registration mark … of the vehicle”
• “if the metal is received from a person, the full name and address of that person”
• “if the dealer pays for the metal, the full name of the person who makes the payment acting for the dealer”

And what you keep with it: “a copy of any document which the dealer uses to verify the name or address” s.13(3); for a cheque, “a copy of the cheque” s.13(4); for a transfer, “the receipt identifying the transfer” or, if there was none, “particulars identifying the transfer” s.13(5).

On how much description is enough, the Home Office guidance: “If the scrap is for example, one washing machine, it would be sensible to say so rather than use a more generic term.” (§10.2)

4. What you record when metal goes out

Under a site licence, for every disposal s.14(3): “the description of the metal, including its type (or types if mixed), form and weight” · “the date and time of its disposal” · “if the disposal is to another person, the full name and address of that person” · “if the dealer receives payment for the metal … the price or other consideration received.” Disposal counts “whether or not it is in the same form in which it was received” s.14(2).

5. Linked, and kept three years

The records “must be recorded in a manner which allows the information and the scrap metal to which it relates to be readily identified by reference to each other” s.15(1), the ID and cheque copies “must be marked so as to identify the scrap metal to which they relate” s.15(2), and all of it kept “for a period of 3 years beginning with the day on which the metal is received or (as the case may be) disposed of.” s.15(3)

Who can walk in

“A constable or an officer of a local authority may enter and inspect a licensed site at any reasonable time on notice to the site manager” s.16(1), and may “require production of, and inspect, any records kept in accordance with section 13 or 14 and any other records relating to payment for scrap metal” and “take copies” s.16(9).

What the Act calls it if these are not done

Receiving metal without the check, paying outside section 12, or failing a record duty is, in the Act’s word, an offence — for the dealer, the site manager, and whoever was given the job s.11(4), s.12(4), s.15(4). The defence the Act gives the dealer and the site manager is having “made arrangements to ensure” it was done and “took all reasonable steps to ensure that those arrangements were complied with.” s.15(5) The penalty levels are in the same sections; read them there.

Has it changed?

Not in these sections. legislation.gov.uk’s revised text, read 16 September 2026, records “no known outstanding effects” for sections 11 to 16. There is no “Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2025” on legislation.gov.uk; the phrase belongs to a couple of dealers’ blogs. The Home Office guidance was last updated on 2 March 2023, and says of itself that “ultimately, it will be for the courts to interpret the meaning of the legislation.”

Where ScrapLog comes in

The ticket the gate makes for a load is the section 13 record: the metals by grade with their weights, the date and time, the vehicle registration, the seller’s name and address, and the ID document on file before anyone is paid — a regular’s copy is kept from the first time. There is no cash button; a payment is marked paid by a named person with a bank reference, which is section 13(5)’s particulars. Section 13 receipts and section 14 disposals print as one pack for any period, and nothing is ever deleted. £200 a month per site and £300 once to set the yard up.

At the gate · In the office · What it costs

Where every line above comes from

All read on 16 September 2026. If a line here and the Act ever disagree, the Act is right.

• Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 — legislation.gov.uk, revised text, sections 11 to 16
• The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 (Prescribed Documents and Information for Verification of Name and Address) Regulations 2013 — SI 2013/2276, regulation 2
• Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013: supplementary guidance — Home Office, updated 2 March 2023