ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed the inclusion of certain food and drink sales in the reduced rate of VAT announced by the Chancellor in his summer statement yesterday, and confirmation that convenience stores can go through the same process as other businesses to get licences for seating outside their store.
Today (8th July) the Chancellor delivered a financial statement to Parliament setting out the Government’s latest Covid-19 related policy measures.
During his statement, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak confirmed that the furlough scheme will end ‘flexibly and gradually’ in October.
The Home Office have published its response to the call for evidence on violence towards shopworkers over a year after it closed, claiming that no changes to the law are necessary to deter those who commit thousands of incidents of threats, violence and abuse against people working in retail.
The Home Office have published its response to the call for evidence on violence towards shopworkers over a year after it closed, claiming that no changes to the law are necessary to deter those who commit thousands of incidents of threats, violence and abuse against people working in retail.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Chancellor to use his summer statement to help local shops invest in their businesses in the future.
While the statement, due to be given by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday (July 8th) is not intended to be a major fiscal event, there are still measures that the Government can introduce now that would support convenience stores in the coming months.
Measures recommended by ACS include:
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the publication of a new report from a House of Lords Committee, highlighting the important role of the convenience sector in providing healthy options for local people and encouraging Government to make it easier for stores to be involved with programmes like Healthy Start and free school meal vouchers.
Ahead of the reopening of more businesses including pubs, restaurants and cafes this Saturday (4th July), ACS is reminding retailers of the resources available to them on key areas of the business like age restricted sales, social distancing, and managing abuse.
Today (3rd July) the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a joint statement alongside a number of trade bodies, including ACS, highlighting concerns about a small number of businesses that are involved in price gouging. Evidence received as part of the taskforce revealed price increases on products such as paracetamol, flour, meat, toilet roll, rice and eggs.
Today (30th June) the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published more information about their work on mapping access to cash to help identify ‘cold spots’.
The FCA and PSR have worked with other regulators to create a single database of the UK’s cash access points. Analysis of additional ONS information has showed that the majority of cold spots were in rural areas.
Findings from the 2020 Rural Shop Report revealed that 45% of rural shops provide a free to use cash machine for local customers.
The Scottish Parliament Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee has unanimously approved the general principles of a Bill which aims to increase protection for shopworkers. The Bill must now be agreed by MSPs and pass two further stages at Holyrood before it becomes law.
The ‘Protection of Workers Bill’ aims to increase protection for retail workers by:
