News

Pop into your local town centre, or look online, and you’ll see countless adverts for jobs in hospitality. Pubs, hotels and restaurants are facing acute staff shortages with the continuation of the furlough scheme until September, the loss of some potential workers from the EU who may feel less able or inclined to come to work in post-Brexit Britain, and the additional time lags and hassle brought about by Covid testing regimes. All this adds up to another blow to hospitality which is of course at the sharp end of the pandemic in any case.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is urging retailers to ensure that they are prepared for the introduction of the new polymer £50 and are aware of its security features.

The polymer £50 note contains advanced security features, including:

Content supplied by Suntory Beverage & Food: 

UK’s biggest sports drink brand  to save 3,500 tonnes of new plastic from being made with major sustainability changes

Suntory Beverage and Food Great Britain & Ireland (SBF GB&I) is investing £6M to support the recycling of its bottles by renovating the packaging of its Lucozade brand.

ACS’ Virtual Study Tour is now available on the member portal!

The Virtual Study Tour is an opportunity to be shown around a diverse range of stores across the country followed by a discussion and Q&A session with the retailers to hear about their business. 

The June 2021 Study Tour featured three fantastic retailers talking about their stores with the ACS team, followed by a panel session discussing what they learned about each others' businesses, and what both retailers and suppliers can take away from the tour. 

Taking place between 14^th - 18^th June, Loneliness Awareness Week aims to encourage people to continue to reach out and support those who may be feeling lonely, even as lockdowns lift and to reinforce the importance of social connections.

The Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed that mandatory calorie labelling will be introduced for large businesses in the out-of-home food and drink sector.  

DHSC have responded to its consultation on requiring businesses in the out-of-home sector (any outlet where food and drink is prepared for immediate consumption by the person who buys it) to include mandatory calorie labelling, announcing that the measures will be introduced for businesses with more than 250 employees.

Book your place at ACS' Heart of the Community conference, taking from 11.30am – 6.00pm on 12^th October at One Great George Street, Westminster.

ACS’ unmissable political conference will bring together over 200 retailers and will address sustainability for local shops and the emerging politics which will impact stores beyond the pandemic.

The agenda includes:

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed an announcement from the Government on the launch of a new watchdog which aims to protect workers’ rights in the UK.

At present, responsibility for tackling modern slavery, enforcing the minimum wage and protecting agency workers is currently spread across three separate bodies.

The introduction of the new watchdog will see the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Enforcement combined to create a single enforcement body.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called for the Government to ensure that local shops are supported in the move to meet proposed minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES).

The Government is proposing to introduce an increase in MEES to EPC C by 2027 and EPC B by 2030.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy launched a consultation looking at the framework to implement tighter minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) for privately rented non-domestic buildings.

In its submission ACS makes a number of recommendations, including:

ACS’ latest webinar exploring the issues surrounding access to cash is now available on the ACS member portal.

The webinar features presentations from Steve Dowling (ACS), Miranda Hewkin-Smith (Bank of England) and Andrew Self (Payment Systems Regulator), looking at the way that payment methods are changing, how valuable cash is to consumers, and what needs to be done to retain access to cash in the long term.