Press Releases

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Government to focus on effective enforcement to deal with the huge illicit trade in vapes that will receive a £645m boost if disposable vapes are banned next year.

In response to the Government’s short consultation on the proposals to ban disposable vape devices from April 2025, ACS has highlighted a number of fundamental issues with DEFRA’s own impact assessment on the ban, warning that it has significantly underestimated the losses that will be felt by retailers.

The Government has published the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, confirming the introduction of a ban on the sale of tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1st January 2009.

The Bill contains enabling powers for the Secretary of State to introduce a wide range of restrictions on the vaping category, including limitations on a number of areas including: 

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has praised the work that local shops in Wales do in their communities as part of the launch of the 2024 Welsh Local Shop Report.

At the launch of the report today (Thursday 14th March) in the Senedd (the Welsh Parliament), ACS engaged with members of the Senedd on the role that convenience stores play in communities across Wales and emphasised the importance of local shops not just as community hubs, but also as local investors and job creators.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed the publication of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute manifesto, which calls on the Government to commit significant additional resources to support the work of Trading Standards in communities across the UK.

The manifesto sets out three priority areas for the next Government:

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed a new report published by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, highlighting the ways that PCCs across England and Wales are engaging with businesses to tackle retail crime.

The report, published today, follows the publication of the Retail Crime Action Plan in 2023 which establishes how police officers should respond to shop theft and violent incidents in stores. All police forces have signed up to the Action Plan.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed measures announced in today’s Budg

The UK’s local shops recorded a shocking 5.6million incidents of shop theft over the last year, smashing the previous record of 1.1m incidents recorded in the 2023 Crime Report.

The Association of Convenience Stores’ 2024 Crime Report, released today, outlines the scale of the retail crime crisis blighting communities across the UK. The report reveals that retailers have recorded over 600 incidents of theft an hour over the last year.

The Scottish Government has published its plans to restrict the sale of HFSS products through additional rules on price promotions and the location of HFSS products in stores, with the intention of putting in place more restrictions than those already in place in England.

While the proposals, scheduled for implementation 12 months after regulations are laid in the Scottish Parliament, broadly follow those that have been introduced in England, additional restrictions being proposed include:

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Scottish Government to consider the impact of its proposed disposable vaping ban on the illicit market. 

The Scottish Government has today published regulations and a short two week consultation on plans to ban disposable vapes by April 2025. 

ACS have welcomed the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposals to ensure that banks and building societies consider reasonable cash access services and has repeated its calls for a review of interchange fees.

These services are essential for the convenience sector – over 50% of store transactions are still conducted using cash, 40% of shops currently host ATMs, and 23% still house post offices. With banks and building societies facing closures across the UK, convenience stores have become ever more essential for the public to access their money and use essential services.