The Chartered Trading Standards Institute manifesto calls for the UK 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:
- Build back trading standards services to better protect consumers and law-abiding businesses through additional investment of more than £100m over the course of the next four years.
- Create more confident consumers by putting in place greater levels of protection, for example by appointing a consumer champion.
- Develop a regulatory system that supports business innovation and growth, which includes clearer legal duties for online businesses.
Polling of trading standards officers released in early 2023 suggests that they are struggling to deal with the volume of intelligence that they’re receiving on the illicit vaping market, with 61% of enforcement officers saying they don’t have the resources to tackle the illicit trade in tobacco and vaping.
John Herriman, Chief Executive of CTSI who launched the Manifesto in Parliament, said: “The UK’s trading standards profession is at the heart of protecting consumers, and we provide a significant layer of defence, but this layer has been decimated in recent years, with the consequence that consumers are at an all-time high of being ripped off, and susceptible to buying products that may be substandard, counterfeit or dangerous.
“Now is the time that we must build back the trading standards workforce so that consumers can once again be confident, which is vital for the UK’s economic growth and prosperity.”
In response, ACS Chief Executive James Lowman, said: “Trading standards resources have been stretched to breaking point while the government commits inadequate funding to deal with major issues, such as the illicit tobacco and vaping markets.
“We will continue to work closely with our trading standards partners and Surrey and Buckinghamshire though our industry leading Assured Advice scheme, and highlight the need for officers to have additional funding to be able to do their jobs effectively.”
ACS Assured Advice has recently been updated for 2024, having now been in place for retailers for 10 years. Assured Advice covers everything from vaping regulations to health and safety, food safety and selling fuel.
All of the Assured Advice guides are available to download from the ACS website here.
