Press Releases

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is calling on the Welsh Government to consider and clarify the impact on small shops of their ‘Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales’ Strategy, published today.

Today (17^th October) the Welsh Government published its ‘Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales’ Strategy which sets out their national ambitions to prevent and reduce obesity in Wales by delivering healthy settings and environments to allow people of all ages to make healthy choices by 2030. 

ACS has responded to new figures from the Office for National Statistics’ annual Crime Survey for England and Wales, urging retailers to report incidents of shop theft to the police.

According to the ONS survey, which covers the whole of retail, the number of police recorded shop theft incidents for the year ending June 2019 decreased by 4% to 368,745 offences.

ACS has responded to a number of Government consultations on employment regulations, highlighting the security, flexibility and local nature of jobs in the convenience sector.

The Government is currently consulting on the areas of statutory sick pay, one sided flexibility and plans to establish a single enforcement body for employment rights.

The 2019 Forecourt Report has revealed the vital role that the UK’s 7,402 forecourt shops play in their local communities, through providing secure local jobs, providing access to essential services and taking time out of the business to support local projects.

More than three quarters (77%) of independent forecourts engaged in some form of community activity over the last year, not just through raising money for charity, but also by sponsoring local teams, being part of litter picks and donating to food banks or other food charities.

The Association of Convenience Stores has announced the appointment of Central England Co-operative Chief Executive Debbie Robinson as its new chair from November, with independent retailer Paul Stone taking on the role of vice chair.

Debbie Robinson will take the place of Sewell Retail Ltd Managing Director Patrick Sewell as chair of the board. Patrick has served as chair since November 2016, and will remain on the ACS board.

ACS has called for more to be done to tackle the root causes of retail crime at a fringe event in Labour Party Conference.

The event, Safer Communities, Safer Shopworkers, was hosted by the Co-Operative Party and aimed to find ways to tackle the violence and abuse suffered by shopworkers.

ACS has welcomed calls from consumer group Which? to ensure that cash is accessible and accepted as payment for essential goods and services.

Research released today (September 18^th) by Which? shows that one in 10 free to use cash machines has either closed or started charging a fee over the past 17 months, with the most deprived areas losing access to cash from ATMs at a faster rate.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed further detail from the Scottish Government on the proposed regulations for the introduction of a deposit return scheme, which includes plans to allow retailers to apply for exemptions.

ACS has welcomed new research from City University of London calling for greater action from the Government to tackle violence against shopworkers.

The research, which was commissioned by the Co-op, references ACS’ Crime Report which shows that there were almost 10,000 incidents of violence against shopworkers in the convenience sector last year, 40% resulting in injury of staff. The report calls for: