Press Releases

The Office for National Statistics have released its annual figures on shoplifting, revealing the highest volume of shop theft since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in 2003.

The figures show that there were over 9,000 more incidents of shop theft in the year ending September 2015 when compared with the previous year. While most offences recorded by the NCRS have seen steady decline, shop theft has slowly risen over recent years.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has briefed MPs on the impact of the introduction of the National Living Wage ahead of a delegated legislation committee debate on the topic today (Monday).

ACS has welcomed the announcement of a Communities and Local Government Select Committee inquiry into the Government’s proposals to devolve rate setting powers to local authorities.

The Inquiry will examine the Government's proposals to allow local authorities to retain 100 per cent of the full stock of business rates by 2020, to cut business rates, and for directly elected mayors to add a premium to business rates to pay for new infrastructure projects.

The Association of Convenience Stores has reacted to the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, welcoming the extension of small business rate relief but raising concerns about business rates devolution and the lack of detail on overall rate reform.

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to extending small business rate relief in 2016; this is a measure that helps businesses to the tune of over £1bn each year and is essential in giving local shops the opportunity to invest in their staff, property and services.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to figures on business rate reliefs released today by the Department for Communities and Local Government, calling for an extension of the business rate discount for small businesses.

The figures show that local authorities granted £1,061 million in relief under the Small Business Rate Relief scheme in 2014-15, up 7.7% on the previous year. Additionally, the amount of relief granted to empty premises fell 4.2% to £947m.

ACS has called on the chancellor to take action on business rates, employment costs and drop proposals to devolve Sunday trading rules in its submission to the Treasury ahead of the Autumn Statement on 25th November.

ACS has warned the Low Pay Commission that the upcoming introduction of the Living Wage will force retailers to scale back their business plans.

In an oral evidence session, ACS Head of Policy and Public Affairs Edward Woodall outlined the issues that retailers will face when having to fund a £7.20 wage rate for over 25s in their business.

Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies has outlined his support for retaining the existing Sunday trading regulations in a visit to a SPAR store in his constituency.

The store owners, Matthew and Huw Jones, raised concerns about the impact that longer opening hours for larger stores on Sundays would have on their business.

The current, popular Sunday trading regulations are at risk of being removed by central Government, who want to devolve the power to set trading hours to local authorities.

The Association of Convenience Stores has labelled the Prime Minister’s response to a question on Sunday trading as 'ill-informed' and 'incorrect' on key details of the current law and the debate about devolving decision-making to local authorities.

MPs from a range of political parties have raised concerns in parliament about the government's plans to devolve decisions on Sunday trading to local authorities.

Many MPs were expecting the proposals to be included as an amendment to the Cities & Devolution Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Commons yesterday.  However, this clause was not proposed as an amendment at this stage, with ministers not confirming if and when this policy would be brought into legislation.