Press Releases

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the publication of the Government’s new Tobacco Strategy, calling for more powers to tackle the illicit trade locally in addition to the national measures set out in the document.

The Strategy commits to the following measures at a national level:

The Cross Party Group on Small Shops has launched a new inquiry in the Welsh Assembly today, looking at the essential contribution that entrepreneurs play in the economy and what can be done to help these businesses secure their long term futures.

The Inquiry will look at the following themes:

The Government has published the Taylor Review of modern working practices, setting out a series of recommendations on flexible working and increasing skills for employees.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Government to do more to help with the rising cost of employment and to ensure that wage rates do not have a negative impact on job prospects.

In its annual submission to the Low Pay Commission, ACS has raised concerns about the measures that retailers are being forced to take as a result of the National Living Wage increasing to £7.50 per hour in April 2017. Key figures from the submission include:

The Scottish Grocers Federation and Association of Convenience Stores have responded to an announcement from the Scottish Government commissioning further work into the viability of a deposit return scheme in Scotland, outlining the problems that a scheme would cause for retailers and urging the Government to focus on effective measures to increase recycling rates.

ACS has welcomed an announcement from the Competition and Markets Authority on the future of rollover contracts for microbusinesses.

From today, suppliers will not be able to lock microbusinesses into automatic rollover contracts. In addition, measures introduced today will ensure that suppliers display prices online to make it easier for businesses to compare different tariffs.

The latest figures from the Association of Convenience Stores have shown an increase in investment over the last quarter, but concerns about the impact of rising employment costs.

Convenience stores across the UK invested £193m in their businesses between March and May, which is an increase on both the previous quarter (£154m) and the same quarter in 2016 (£181m).

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has reacted to the Queen’s Speech, calling on the Government to ensure that changes to the energy market include both domestic and non domestic consumers.

During the speech, the Queen stated that the Government ‘will ensure fairer markets for consumers, this will include bringing forward measures to help tackle unfair practices in the energy market to help reduce energy bills.’

The hustings debate, organised by ACS and the Federation of Small Businesses, featured Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell (Labour), Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke (Conservative) and Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrats) being questioned on their plans to support small businesses through economic incentives.

An influential committee of Scottish MSPs has acknowledged that convenience retailers do not have the space to facilitate a Deposit Return Scheme.

The report (available here) by the Environmental Sub Group in the Scottish Parliament has identified that one of the central barriers to a deposit return scheme is the “lack of space for DRS collection facilities in smaller shops or independent retailers”.