News

Chancellor Rishi Sunak MP has delivered his first Budget, announcing a series of measures to support businesses this year in light of uncertainty over COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

Short term measures announced by the Chancellor include:

Members of the Association of Convenience Stores, British Retail Consortium, National Federation of Retail Newsagents and the shopworkers union, USDAW, presented a united voice to Government at a parliamentary event on Tuesday, calling for an end to violence against shopworkers.

Evidence from the industry and official Home Office figures show that there is a growing problem of violence and abuse in the retail sector. This is despite retailers investing £1.2 billion in crime prevention equipment and training to protect shopworkers from violence, abuse and crime.

2020 Crime Report Sets out Evidence for Action on Crime Against Convenience Sector

Britain’s local shops have been the victim of over 50,000 incidents of violence over the last year, according to new figures from the Association of Convenience Stores’ 2020 Crime Report.

The Crime Report, being launched this week, provides evidence of the scale and impact of theft, violence, abuse and other crimes committed against convenience store retailers and their staff, setting out a clear vision for how the Government and the justice system can take action.

The Ministry of Justice has published proposed revisions to the Victims Code, outlining 12 overarching rights that victims should have when reporting crime.

The revised code, published today alongside a six week consultation, sets out the minimum level of service that victims can expect from the criminal justice system.

ACS, the British Retail Consortium, Federation of Small Businesses, Positive Money and Responsible Finance are urging the Chancellor to use next week’s Budget to secure long-term access to cash across the UK.

16 Conservative MPs have supported  action on access to cash in a private letter to the Chancellor submitted today (Thursday). The letter outlines that to secure long-term access to cash, the Chancellor should use his Budget to:

•             Reverse the cuts to interchange fees paid by banks to fund the network

The Department for Transport has announced plans to require fuel retailers to offer the E10 fuel grade from 2021.

Organisations representing thousands of businesses have written to the Chancellor, called on him to push ahead with business rates reform in the Budget on March 11^th.

Today (3rd March) the Government published its coronavirus action plan which provides information on what further action can be expected from the Government in response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Book your place at the ACS Crime Seminar, taking place on 10th March, from 9:30am to 12pm at the Conrad St James Hotel in Westminster.

The Crime Seminar will begin with the launch of ACS’ Crime Report 2020 and will give an exclusive first look at the findings before a discussion with a panel of police, retailers and industry experts.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is urging all convenience store retailers in Wales to ensure that their business is compliant with the new Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) regulations which came into force today.

From today (2nd March), all licensed premises, including convenience stores, must comply with the Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018. This means that retailers must not sell alcohol below 50p per unit.