ACS Blog

I want to write about changing the narrative on retail crime. For so long now the message from ACS and many other organisations has been about the rise in the number of incidents, their severity, and the impact this is having on businesses and the people who run and work in them. This is all 100% true, and we should never stop telling the story about retail crime because the situation is simply wrong and unacceptable.

Most of the time when you hear from ACS in the media or at an event, it’s through me or one of the senior team. That’s deliberate, we’re paid to articulate members’ views and it’s much quicker and more efficient for us to issue comment as soon as developments happen rather than creating a long sign-off process especially involving retailers busy in their stores and communities. For this reason the chief executive is sometimes the one seen as “being” the organisation, especially because I’ve been here for a long time.

Party Conference season is all about trying to land simple messages about the future. Whether the Prime Minister achieved this in his speech this week is up to you to decide, but for us, this time of year is a great opportunity to get MPs thinking about ways to support convenience stores, and right now what our members need is the ability to invest.

After a year of weathering the storm of increased costs from regulation changes, National Living Wage increases and Employer’s National Insurance contributions, local shops are now facing down another wave of cost increases on business rates.

The Government's ban on disposable vapes has been in place for around a month now, so I thought it would be worth taking stock to see if the ban has been successful by any measure so far, as well as investigating the impact on retailers - some of which I'm sure is yet to come.

All businesses, including all of our members and even ACS itself, have to make tough choices every year about where to allocate finite resources. There are some things that can be predicted, but the last few years have told us that forecasting is incredibly tricky with so many moving parts.

This week the government has announced that it will introduce digital driving licenses. There are lots of interesting and important questions dominating most of the public debate on this, for example about the other government services that will be accessed through the same system, about the benefits to those (including employers, which is relevant to us) who might use the new system to get information they need, and about how British people feel about anything that looks and feels like an ID card.

I hope one of the things you associate with ACS is a positive outlook on our industry. Of course we have to balance that with reflecting the sometimes harsh realities of running convenience stores, but our top-line narrative is that our sector is relevant, resilient and adaptable, we want and need help and the right environment to flourish. Goodness knows this business isn’t for the workshy or fainthearted, but we back our members to be a part of the social and economic fabric of this country for generations to come.

I always feel this time of year comes with a sense of fresh starts and renewed focus. As school terms begin and Summer holidays end, we take stock of our agenda for the work ahead. This year it’s even more noticeable because after the general election, swearing in of new MPs, initial government announcements, dealing with the appalling riots in August, and parliamentary recess, the new government gets to work on its own agenda. 

We’re hearing lots of talk in this election campaign about high streets, and that’s really good news. I could dwell on a technical point here: most convenience stores trade away from major centres and in our heartland of housing estates and villages, in fact the places close to where most of the electorate live and where they want to see government support directed.