ACS has welcomed new research from City University of London calling for greater action from the Government to tackle violence against shopworkers.
The research, which was commissioned by the Co-op, references ACS’ Crime Report which shows that there were almost 10,000 incidents of violence against shopworkers in the convenience sector last year, 40% resulting in injury of staff. The report calls for:
The 2019 Local Shop Report has revealed that the 46,388 stores in the UK convenience sector currently employ around 405,000 people, generating sales of over £40.3bn over the last year. The report, launched this week by the Association of Convenience Stores, demonstrates how important the UK’s network of convenience stores are to thousands of communities and millions of customers.
Key findings from this year’s report include:
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has launched a briefing for the convenience sector to help retailers consider how their business may be affected by the UK leaving the EU with no deal.
The Brexit Readiness Briefing covers three core elements that may be affected in the convenience sector: trading environment, workforce & people and regulations. Each of the sections includes a number of considerations for retailers to think about in relation to their business and suggests some preparations they can make in advance.
Steve Double, the local MP for St. Austell & Newquay, recently visited a Spar in his constituency to discuss the challenges facing local shops, and the growing part that they are playing in servicing their communities.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed the findings of research into consumers’ and small businesses’ attitudes towards and need for access to cash.
The BritainThinks research commissioned by the Payment Systems Regulator shows that ‘the majority of consumers use cash regularly’, with 83% of consumers using a free-to-use ATM within the past month and 67% of consumers using cash more than once in the past week.
Bargain Booze retailer Gareth Wynne hosted a store visit with his local MP David Hanson to talk about the role of his store in the community and some of the challenges that convenience retailers face.
ACS has called for a more targeted approach to dealing with repeat offenders, after official figures from the Home Office show that retailers who experience crime are being targeted more often than in previous years.
The 2018 Commercial Victimisation Survey, published this morning (5th September), shows that overall, crimes against retailers and wholesalers continue to rise year on year, driven mostly by increases in theft by customers.
Key findings from the survey include:
Chancellor Outlines Plans in First Spending Review
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the announcements made by Chancellor Sajid Javid during the Spending Review, outlining details about the allocation of money to different departments during the 2020-2021 financial year.
The Chancellor announced plans to invest in the criminal justice system, including £750m to fund the first year of the government’s plan to recruit 20,000 new police officers by 2022, with plans to have the first 2,000 police officers in place by the end of March 2020.
ACS has called on the Treasury to provide more detail on its plans to ensure that track and trace regulations are not significantly disrupted in the event of a no deal Brexit.
In a meeting of the Joint Alcohol Tobacco Consultative Group this week, HMRC suggested that the track and trace system would need to be ‘suspended’ if the UK left the EU without a deal. HMRC believe that restarting a UK only system with the necessary associated legislation would take between 6-12 months, with current plans referring to the system being restarted in October 2020.
Book your place at the launch of ACS’ 2019 Local Shop Report, taking place on Tuesday 10th September at the National Space Centre in Leicester.
This year’s report is the eighth edition and will build on the data from previous editions to highlight key areas of change and development that we have seen over recent years.
