News

According to reports from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), crime in England and Wales has seen its largest annual increase in a decade.

Figures from ONS have shown that a total of around five million crimes were reported to and recorded by the police last year, this is a ten per cent rise from the previous year. These crimes include a range of offences such as burglary, theft and violent crimes.

Key points from the report include:

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has unveiled the design of the new £10 note. The note is printed on polymer and is the first Bank of England banknote with a tactile feature to help blind and partially sighted users.

The £10 note contains sophisticated security features which make it very difficult to counterfeit. It is expected to last at least 2.5 times longer than the current paper £10 notes – around 5 years in total – and stay in better condition during day to day use.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the publication of the Government’s new Tobacco Strategy, calling for more powers to tackle the illicit trade locally in addition to the national measures set out in the document.

The Strategy commits to the following measures at a national level:

Mel Stride MP, Financial Secretary to Treasury has confirmed today that the Government will delay plans for the roll out of their Making Tax Digital tax reforms by one year to 2019.

Under the new timetable:

The Cross Party Group on Small Shops has launched a new inquiry in the Welsh Assembly today, looking at the essential contribution that entrepreneurs play in the economy and what can be done to help these businesses secure their long term futures.

The Inquiry will look at the following themes:

ACS has responded to a question in the House of Lords about plastic bottle recycling and a deposit return scheme, urging the government to listen to the views of convenience store retailers by including them in the DEFRA economic and voluntary incentives working group.

The Government has published the Taylor Review of modern working practices, setting out a series of recommendations on flexible working and increasing skills for employees.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Government to do more to help with the rising cost of employment and to ensure that wage rates do not have a negative impact on job prospects.

In its annual submission to the Low Pay Commission, ACS has raised concerns about the measures that retailers are being forced to take as a result of the National Living Wage increasing to £7.50 per hour in April 2017. Key figures from the submission include:

The Scottish Grocers Federation and Association of Convenience Stores have responded to an announcement from the Scottish Government commissioning further work into the viability of a deposit return scheme in Scotland, outlining the problems that a scheme would cause for retailers and urging the Government to focus on effective measures to increase recycling rates.

Retailers have launched an appeal against a ruling on through-the-wall ATMs being separately charged for business rates.

The ruling, issued in April, states that cash machines built into the front of a shop or petrol forecourt should be subject to a separate rates bill. This is especially problematic for free to use cash machines, as they are likely to be used more heavily than charged machines and their rates bills are calculated on the basis of the turnover of the machine.