The Association of Convenience Stores has called on the Government to provide Trading Standards in England with an additional £140m over the next five years to fund a new battalion of 400 enforcement officers, aimed at tackling the rising tide of illegal vape devices being distributed in England.
ACS has welcomed confirmation from the government that the introduction of deposit return schemes in the UK will be pushed back to October 2027, subject to agreement from the devolved administrations.
In a written ministerial statement published this morning (April 25th), Robbie Moore MP confirmed that the previously scheduled October 2025 go live date for a deposit return scheme was a ‘stretching target’ and that an October 2027 implementation would be required to ensure that the rollout of schemes was effective and efficient.
The Scottish Government have published a new six week consultation on the implementation of the disposable vapes ban, expanding on the definition of a disposable vape and outlining the fines that will be issued to businesses who continue to sell and supply disposables after a ban.
The ban, which is scheduled to come into force in April 2025, is subject to separate regulations in Scotland which closely resemble those in England. Scotland are the first UK nation to provide more detail on their definition of a disposable vape, which is as follows:
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed the publication of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute manifesto, which calls on the Government to commit significant additional resources to support the work of Trading Standards in communities across the UK.
The manifesto sets out three priority areas for the next Government:
The Scottish Government has published its plans to restrict the sale of HFSS products through additional rules on price promotions and the location of HFSS products in stores, with the intention of putting in place more restrictions than those already in place in England.
While the proposals, scheduled for implementation 12 months after regulations are laid in the Scottish Parliament, broadly follow those that have been introduced in England, additional restrictions being proposed include:
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Scottish Government to consider the impact of its proposed disposable vaping ban on the illicit market.
The Scottish Government has today published regulations and a short two week consultation on plans to ban disposable vapes by April 2025.
ACS have welcomed the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposals to ensure that banks and building societies consider reasonable cash access services and has repeated its calls for a review of interchange fees.
These services are essential for the convenience sector – over 50% of store transactions are still conducted using cash, 40% of shops currently host ATMs, and 23% still house post offices. With banks and building societies facing closures across the UK, convenience stores have become ever more essential for the public to access their money and use essential services.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is delighted to announce that One Stop is supporting ACS Conference24 as a headline sponsor.
Conference24 takes place on April 30th at the Vox in Birmingham, co-located with the National Convenience Show. This year’s agenda is focused on recognising changes in consumer behaviour and examining how retailers can respond to succeed in the future. One Stop joins Mondelez | Snack Display as the two headline sponsors of the event.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have seen an increase in the number of shop theft incidents reported to the police in England and Wales over the last year.
Released today (19th October) the figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) show a 25% increase of incidents of shop theft to a total of 365,164 offences in the year ending June 2023.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has signed up to a call to action alongside over 100 organisations, urging the next Government to take action to tackle loneliness.
