News

A national competition is currently underway to find and celebrate the best high streets in the country. 

The competition is being run by the Future High Street Forum and the Association of Town and City Management.

ACS is calling on retailers to respond to the National Minimum Wage survey 2015 to inform the convenience sector’s response to Low Pay Commission’s call for evidence on minimum wage rates in 2015. 

The LPC is an independent body that advises the government on future the National Minimum Wage consulting with the business community and unions.

‘Managing Health And Safety’ and ‘Selling Fireworks’ are the two latest Assured Advice Guides published by ACS under its innovative primary authority compliance scheme. The scheme, which is free to all ACS members, provides retailers with excellent tailored advice developed by retail and local authority experts.

Once members sign up to the scheme and use the guidance, they can be sure that their policies and procedures will not be challenged or changed by any other local authority.

ACS has welcomed new evidence from Citizens Advice on small business energy contracts, and has renewed its call on Ofgem to ensure that all energy companies adhere to the same standards. 

The survey from Citizens Advice reports that 46% of small businesses are concerned about their electricity bills, compared with 16% who were worried about access to finance. 

ACS research conducted last year revealed that 88% of retailers believe that further regulation of suppliers is necessary for a fairer marketplace. 

The seventh annual ACS Heart of the Community conference will be taking place on Tuesday 21st October from 12.00pm – 3.30pm.

The conference, held in Westminster, brings retailers from across the country together with MPs and Ministers to discuss important issues facing local shops. 

The event will be chaired by journalist, Daisy McAndrew.

ACS has called on its members to support the Home Office’s Commercial Victimisation Survey, which provides crucial information to Government on how businesses in England and Wales are affected by crime.

We hear from CAMRA this morning that 31 pubs are closing each week. I’ll start and finish this blog with a personal observation you may wish to dismiss as just that.

ACS has responded to the 2015 Manifesto published by the All Party Group on Alcohol Misuse.

The Group, which is a forum for MPs and Peers sympathetic to the policy objectives of alcohol health campaigners, has set out a ten point wish list of measures they would like to see imposed by the next Government. It includes minimum unit pricing, health warnings on alcohol labels and new powers for Councils to prevent the opening of new off licences.

The ACS Crime Seminar will be held at Greater Manchester Police HQ, on Tuesday 2nd September. The Crime Seminar is a fantastic opportunity to share best practice, network with industry experts and hear the latest from retailers, police forces and local authorities about how they are tackling retail crime.

ACS has called for Government to scrap plans to impose a cap on the size of business that is eligible for compensation under the Riot Damages Act. 

The Riot Damages Act that was used to assess compensation during the 2011 riots was originally published in 1886.