News

ACS has called on LINK to be transparent about  the application of their Financial Inclusion Programme and the impact of their interchange fee cut on rural ATMs during an evidence session in Parliament.

The evidence session of the All Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group, chaired by APG Chair Ruth George MP, focused on the challenges facing free to use ATM operators in light of recent cuts to interchange fees implemented by LINK. The session included contributions from LINK, ACS, the Federation of Small Businesses, Which? and the Payment Systems Regulator.

ACS has reiterated its calls for the government to incentivise rather than compel forecourt operators to provide electric vehicle charging points on their sites.  The Road to Zero, published this morning (9^th July) by the Department for Transport, sets out the Government’s plans to see at least half of new cars be ultra low emission vehicles by 2030, including more details of the charging infrastructure that would be required to make this happen.

ACS has responded to Chancellor Philip Hammond MP’s comments in a letter to the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, urging the Chancellor to look again at ways to incentivise investment.

In the letter, the Chancellor set out the Government’s intention to keep the calculation of business rates as it is, stating that there was ‘no consensus on an alternative base’ for the calculation of rates bills. However, Mr Hammond acknowledges that the Government needs ‘to find a better way of taxing the digital economy’.

Nisa retailer Sukh Gill hosted a store visit with his local MP and the Government’s Small Business and Retail Minister Andrew Griffiths, discussing his concerns about the impact of rising employment costs and retail crime on his store. The visit took place at Sukh’s Horninglow Road store, which features services such as a free to use ATM, bakery, PayPoint, and newspaper delivery.

The Cross Party Group on Small Shops has released the findings of its Supporting Entrepreneurship Inquiry, recommending new ways that the Welsh Government and local authorities can help entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow, including an ‘Entrepreneurs Test’ to ensure that new regulations do not have unforeseen negative impacts and reform of the business rates system to incentivise investment and not restrict business growth.

ACS has responded to the publication of the Scottish Government’s Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan, ‘A Healthier Future’, calling on the Scottish Government to consider the impact of their proposals on small shops.

The new plan aims to halve the rates of childhood obesity by 2030 by including actions to ensure that the food environment supports healthier choices.

Measures announced for consultation later this year in the Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan include:

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has condemned LINK’s decision to reduce interchange fees for cash machine operators, raising concerns that cash machines in rural and isolated communities could be lost as a result of the changes. 

LINK confirmed in January this year that over the next four years, they plan to reduce the interchange fee (the fee paid by banks to cash machine operators) from 25p to 20p. The first of these reductions will come into effect this Sunday (July 1st). 

The Scottish Government have today (Wednesday) published a consultation on what the format and structure of a Deposit Return Scheme should look like in Scotland.

The Scottish Government committed to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland in their programme for Government 2017-18 and have been working with Zero Waste Scotland on the development of the consultation

The ACS/PRA Forecourt Conference is the must-attend event for anyone interested in fuel retailing. This year’s conference is taking place on 3rd July at the King Power Stadium in Leicester.

The forecourt sector is made up of over 8,400 stores providing jobs to over 109,000 people. Forecourt retailers are faced with many opportunities and challenges as technology and consumer demands change, the Forecourt Conference is the chance to hear from industry experts about the sector and ask them questions.

An Early Day Motion tabled by All Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group chair Ruth George MP on the importance of dealing with shop theft has received cross party support from MPs.

Early Day Motion 1415 has received signatures from members of the Labour Party, Conservative Party, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Liberal Democrats and the DUP.

The Early Day Motion states: