Government
The latest news, updates and analysis on the government and what it is doing that affects the UK retail industry. Sign up to the Daily Briefing and let Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
-
Jan- 2018 -23 January
Waitrose pledges plastic-free packaging by 2018
Supermarket retailer Waitrose has announced that it aims to remove all black plastic used in its meat, fish, fruit and vegetable products by end of 2018. The black plastic used for food such as ready meals and puddings cannot be recycled as lasers used by waste processors cannot sense the…
Read More » -
22 January
Co-op creates modern slavery job lifeline programme
The Co-op is creating a national scheme that allows employers to help survivors of modern slavery by offering them permanent employment within its business. The project is based on the Co-op’s Bright Future programme, which provides survivors with a four-week paid work placement leading to a non-competitive interview. If they…
Read More » -
18 January
Retailers warned the Darwin £10 note is almost extinct
The Bank of England has warned that it will withdraw legal tender status of the paper £10 note featuring Charles Darwin at 23:59 on Thursday 1 March 2018. With six weeks to go, all retailers that handle cash need to plan and prepare for the change. After the deadline, businesses…
Read More » -
16 January
Iceland pledges plastic-free products by 2023
Frozen food specialist Iceland has pledged to become the first retailer globally to completely remove plastic packaging from its own-brand products by 2023. The company plans to create a range of paper and pulp trays along with paper bags which are all fully recyclable. It has already removed disposable plastic…
Read More » -
15 January
Card payment fees no longer chargeable by small firms
Small businesses will not be able to charge customers for using credit or debit cards, after new EU legislation took effect this week. HMRC announced that it will cease to accept payments by personal credit card as a result. The legislation, known as the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), will…
Read More » -
12 January
HMRC report names retail gender-pay-gap culprits
An HMRC report listing gender pay figures for period 2016-17 has revealed the names of 39 companies in the retail and wholesale trades which it says failed to pay female workers the same rate as men in equivalent roles. Among the firms studied, on average women were being underpaid by…
Read More » -
11 January
Carphone Warehouse fined £400,000 for security data breach
Carphone Warehouse has been fined £400,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), after a data breach allowed unauthorised access to the personal data of over three million customers and 1,000 employees. The compromised data included names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, marital status and, for more than 18,000 customers,…
Read More » -
10 January
Mayor greenlights £1.4bn Croydon regeneration scheme
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has approved a major development as part of long-term plans to regenerate Croydon town centre. The redevelopment of the Whitgift shopping centre by a joint venture of Westfield and Hammerson will create nearly 1,000 homes, and provide the local community with new leisure facilities…
Read More » -
10 January
Plastic bag charge set to affect all retailers
The 5p plastic bag charge could be applied to all retailers as part of new government plans to protect the environment. Prime Minister Theresa May is set to announce the 25-year environment plan on Thursday 11 to tackle “throw-away culture”. Currently, large businesses which have 250 or more employees are…
Read More » -
8 January
Retailers vow to control acid-attack ingredient sales
Some of the country’s largest retailers and independent business leaders have pledged not to sell the most harmful corrosive substances to under 18s, as part of a series of voluntary commitments proposed by the government to help limit acid attacks. Waitrose, B&Q, Morrisons, Wickes, Co-op, Screwfix and Tesco are among…
Read More »
