ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the Prime Minister’s announcement today of a range of environmental initiatives including confirmation that cars fully powered by petrol or diesel cannot be produced after 2030. Key measures announced include:
Read MoreACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has warned that the Government increase in duty rates on tobacco products will drive more consumers to the illicit tobacco market.
Announced today (12th November) the duty rate on all tobacco products will increase by 2% above Retail Price Index (RPI), hand-rolling tobacco will rise by an additional 4%, to 6% and the Minimum Excise Tax by an additional 2%, to 4% above RPI inflation this year.
The increase will take effect from Monday 16th November 2020.
Read MoreACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has published an EU Exit Readiness briefing for the convenience sector to help retailers consider how their business may be affected at the end of the transition period on 31st December 2020.
The EU-Exit Readiness Briefing covers three core elements for convenience retailers to consider: trading environment, workforce & people and regulations.
Read MoreACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is welcoming an announcement from the Government on plans to increase to the value of Healthy Start payments, as part of a number of measures to safeguard children’s food security.
The Government announced a package of measures designed to alleviate child food poverty, including:
Read MoreACS and FWD have raised concerns about the supply of legitimate tobacco in the UK market after the Government stated that a decision was yet to be made on anti-forestalling regulations.
Ordinarily, the tobacco forestalling regulations are in place to ensure that retailers do not stockpile products and take advantage of lower duty rates. As there is no formal Budget statement planned this year and no planned duty increase, there is confusion over the status of the regulations.
Read MoreACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is reminding retailers about the importance of Purple Tuesday and the resources that are available to help local shops support their customers, including posters on face covering exemptions.
Taking place today (3rd November) Purple Tuesday is a programme which aims to increase awareness of the value and the needs of disabled customers. The programme is free for organisations to take part in and involves making at least one new commitment to improve customer experience for disabled people.
These commitments include:
Read MoreThe Government has set out the new national restrictions which will take effect in England from 5th November until 2nd December, requiring people to stay at home and for some businesses to close.
As part of the national lockdown, the Government has ordered certain businesses and venues to close. These include:
Read MoreACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the second part of the HM Treasury’s fundamental review of business rates in England, outlining the key measures needed to ensure that the system supports local shops’ ability to invest and continue to provide their communities with essential products and services.
The second part of the review focused on valuations, appeals, the administration of business rates and alternatives to business rates.
In its submission ACS made a number of key recommendations, including:
Read MoreACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to energy regulator Ofgem’s consultation on reforms to the microbusiness energy market, urging the regulator to act to make energy contracts and the switching process fairer.
In the consultation, Ofgem proposes a series of measures to make the broker / third party intermediary (TPI) market fairer, including:
Read MoreThis morning the WRC, CBI and ACS has presented the Welsh Government with our recommendations to resolve the confusion over non-essential items. We hope government will agree to these recommendations and the people of Wales can refocus all their energies on respecting the Fire Break.
We believe these recommendations will fulfil retail’s role in tackling the spread of the virus while allowing for discretion to be used on an individual basis – as recommended by Health Minister Vaughan Gethin yesterday.
Our recommendations are as follows:
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