News

Book your place at ACS' Heart of the Community conference, taking from 11.30am – 6.00pm on 12^th October at One Great George Street, Westminster.

ACS’ unmissable political conference will bring together over 200 retailers and will address sustainability for local shops and the emerging politics which will impact stores beyond the pandemic.

The agenda includes:

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed an announcement from the Government on the launch of a new watchdog which aims to protect workers’ rights in the UK.

At present, responsibility for tackling modern slavery, enforcing the minimum wage and protecting agency workers is currently spread across three separate bodies.

The introduction of the new watchdog will see the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Enforcement combined to create a single enforcement body.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called for the Government to ensure that local shops are supported in the move to meet proposed minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES).

The Government is proposing to introduce an increase in MEES to EPC C by 2027 and EPC B by 2030.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy launched a consultation looking at the framework to implement tighter minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) for privately rented non-domestic buildings.

In its submission ACS makes a number of recommendations, including:

ACS’ latest webinar exploring the issues surrounding access to cash is now available on the ACS member portal.

The webinar features presentations from Steve Dowling (ACS), Miranda Hewkin-Smith (Bank of England) and Andrew Self (Payment Systems Regulator), looking at the way that payment methods are changing, how valuable cash is to consumers, and what needs to be done to retain access to cash in the long term.

During a Westminster Hall debate on the Protection of Retail Workers, led by Matt Vickers MP, there was agreement from MPs that more action is needed to protect shopworkers.

The debate was held in response to the petition Protect Retail Workers from Abuse, Threats and Violence which received over 104,000 signatures before it closed on 24th January 2021.

ACS has welcomed the publication of a new Bill aimed at maintaining fuel supply to customers in the event of disruption.

The Downstream Oil Resilience Bill was introduced today (Monday) by Energy Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan after being first announced during the Queen’s Speech earlier this year. The Bill aims to address the following issues:

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has set out the details of how a deposit return scheme (DRS) should be introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure that it is workable for local shops and does not leave them out of pocket.

ACS has responded to the Government’s proposals on reform of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, calling for clarity on the impact on small stores of a take-back scheme for disposable cups.

Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets Paul Scully MP has been confirmed to speak at the parliamentary reception following ACS’ Heart of the Community conference. The Minister will outline the Government’s plan for local shops and present the Raj Aggarwal Award for exceptional community retailing.

This year’s conference will take place from 11.30am – 6.00pm on 12^th October at One Great George Street, Westminster.

ACS has welcomed the publication of a new consultation from energy regulator Ofgem on changes to the way that energy suppliers engage with microbusiness customers.

Measures proposed in Ofgem’s latest consultation would amend the Standard Licence Conditions (SLCs) of energy suppliers to include: