New figures from the Association of Convenience Stores have revealed that fewer than one in ten retailers are planning to invest in their business in the future, a record low.
When asked about their business plans in the quarterly Voice of Local Shops Survey, only 9% of independent retailers said they planned to invest in their stores over the coming year. This is the lowest level seen since the survey began in 2012 and a decline from 16% last May.
The Government has received approval from the Supreme Court to appeal a £300 million court dispute over business rate bills for cash machines outside shops.
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is set to challenge a ruling from the Court of Appeal which confirmed that through the wall ATMs should not be subject to a separate business rates assessment.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) welcomes launch of the Great British High Street (GBHS) Awards 2019. The Government-run awards, in partnership with Visa, celebrate the nation’s leading high streets and recognise local achievements.
Entries for the GBHS Awards 2019 opened today (23rd May) and a selection of 40 shortlisted finalists will be chosen by an independent judging panel and are eligible to win up to £15,000 for their local community.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) welcomes launch of the Great British High Street (GBHS) Awards 2019. The Government-run awards, in partnership with Visa, celebrate the nation’s leading high streets and recognise local achievements.
Entries for the GBHS Awards 2019 opened today (23rd May) and a selection of 40 shortlisted finalists will be chosen by an independent judging panel and are eligible to win up to £15,000 for their local community.
ACS has given evidence to the business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee outlining the challenges to the future of the Post Office Network and the convenience retailers that host them.
In a one-off evidence session of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s inquiry into the Post Office network, ACS urged the committee to consider the impact of increasing wage costs and changing consumer shopping habits.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to a three crucially important proposals from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on: introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers, reforming the UK producer responsibility system and introducing a plastic packaging tax.
The consultations were launched following their commitment to consult in their Resources and Waste Strategy which was published last year.
The Scottish Government has announced today (8th May) details of their plans for a deposit return scheme (DRS) in Scotland.
Based on the plans announced, the scheme would have a significant impact on small shops, with the Scottish Government mandating manual handling of returned packaging at small stores and ruling out an exemption for shops smaller than 280 sq m. This is despite committing in their Programme for Government in 2017 to address specific difficulties that small retailers will have under as part of the design of a deposit return scheme.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed an announcement from energy regulator Ofgem of a strategic review of the microbusiness energy market.
Ofgem has launched a call for evidence seeking views and experiences from microbusinesses as a result of their concerns that some are struggling to find a better energy deal and may be paying more than they should.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to new figures published by Which? on the amount of cash machines being converted to charge fees, calling for urgent action to secure consumers’ access to cash.
Figures obtained by Which? show that fees of at least 95p per withdrawal have been imposed on 1,700 machines between January and March this year. Which? report that around three quarters of these fees have been introduced in March alone.
With less than six weeks to go until the introduction of Making Tax Digital rules, only one in four convenience store retailers know what they need to do comply with the changes.
From 1st April 2019, all businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) must keep their VAT records digitally and use Making Tax Digital (MTD) compatible software to submit their VAT returns.
