Press Releases

The Government has received approval from the Supreme Court to appeal a £300 million court dispute over business rate bills for cash machines outside shops.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is set to challenge a ruling from the Court of Appeal which confirmed that through the wall ATMs should not be subject to a separate business rates assessment.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to a new report from the Resolution Foundation which examines the extent of low pay across the economy.

The ‘Low Pay Britain’ report notes that the number of low-paid workers across Britain fell by almost 200,000 last year, including over 130,000 women and 120,000 people aged 21-30 (despite under 25s not being legally entitled to the NLW).

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) welcomes launch of the Great British High Street (GBHS) Awards 2019. The Government-run awards, in partnership with Visa, celebrate the nation’s leading high streets and recognise local achievements.

Entries for the GBHS Awards 2019 opened today (23^rd May) and a selection of 40 shortlisted finalists will be chosen by an independent judging panel and are eligible to win up to £15,000 for their local community.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) welcomes launch of the Great British High Street (GBHS) Awards 2019. The Government-run awards, in partnership with Visa, celebrate the nation’s leading high streets and recognise local achievements.

Entries for the GBHS Awards 2019 opened today (23^rd May) and a selection of 40 shortlisted finalists will be chosen by an independent judging panel and are eligible to win up to £15,000 for their local community.

ACS has given evidence to the business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee outlining the challenges to the future of the Post Office Network and the convenience retailers that host them.

In a one-off evidence session of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s inquiry into the Post Office network, ACS urged the committee to consider the impact of increasing wage costs and changing consumer shopping habits.

New research from the University of Bristol has found that two thirds of the cash machines that have started to charge customers in Bristol are located in some of the area's most deprived communities.

The research found that bank branches and free cash machines were concentrated in the more affluent parts of Bristol, while more deprived areas only had access to machines that were not run by banks, many of which had begun charging since October 2018.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to a three crucially important proposals from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on: introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers, reforming the UK producer responsibility system and introducing a plastic packaging tax.

The consultations were launched following their commitment to consult in their Resources and Waste Strategy which was published last year.

The Treasury Committee has published its final report on consumer’s access to financial services, calling for access to cash and consumer choice to be protected.

In the report, the Committee outlines its support of the recommendations made in the Access to Cash review, and expresses its concern about the rate at which free to use ATMs have been closing. The report states that without action, the UK risks inadvertently becoming a cashless society and that ‘for a large portion of society, including some of the most vulnerable, this would have stark consequences’.

The Scottish Government has announced today (8^th May) details of their plans for a deposit return scheme (DRS) in Scotland.

Based on the plans announced, the scheme would have a significant impact on small shops, with the Scottish Government mandating manual handling of returned packaging at small stores and ruling out an exemption for shops smaller than 280 sq m.  This is despite committing in their Programme for Government in 2017 to address specific difficulties that small retailers will have under as part of the design of a deposit return scheme.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed an announcement from energy regulator Ofgem of a strategic review of the microbusiness energy market.

Ofgem has launched a call for evidence seeking views and experiences from microbusinesses as a result of their concerns that some are struggling to find a better energy deal and may be paying more than they should.