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Practical steps to prevent credit card and payment fraud as an independent cycling retailer

4 Dec 2024

As credit card fraud becomes increasingly sophisticated, taking these steps could help you stay ahead of the fraudsters…
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Scottish retailers call for urgent business rates support as gap widens with rest of UK

29 Nov 2024

Scottish independent retailers, including those in the cycling sector, are urging the Scottish Government to provide crucial business rates relief in its upcoming budget, as the disparity in... Read more…

Bira and ACT welcome new House of Lords report on high street regeneration

28 Nov 2024

Independent retailers back call for local leadership and simplified funding.
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Seven-in-ten cycle traders boycott Black Friday as cost pressures mount

26 Nov 2024

Seven in ten cycle retailers across the UK will boycott this year's Black Friday sales event, according to a survey of the bicycle trade by the ACT.
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Cycling club raising funds for youth bike maintenance workshops and 'go slow' inclusivity initiative

21 Nov 2024

A local cycling club is raising money and seeking donations and assistance in order to teach bike maintenance to young people through a series of workshops in 2025.
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Bira meets with Treasury members to discuss Budget concerns and business rate reform proposal

17 Nov 2024

Bira has held a meeting with members of the Treasury team to discuss concerns following its robust response to the Government’s recent Budget announcement.
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ACT teams up with Saledock to supercharge bike shop efficiency and customer experience

14 Nov 2024

The ACT has announced a dynamic partnership with Saledock - an all-in-one POS, eCommerce, and inventory management platform tailor-made for bike shops and workshops.
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'Devastating and out of touch' - independent retailers react to Budget bombshell

1 Nov 2024

Independent retailers across Britain have reacted with dismay to yesterday's Budget, with many warning of store closures, job losses and cancelled expansion plans.
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Devastating Budget Delivers Triple Blow to Independent Retailers, Says ACT and Bira

30 Oct 2024

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) and the ACT have condemned today's Budget as the most damaging for independent retailers in recent memory, with... Read more…

Retailers paying one-third of all UK business rates despite making up only 9% of economy

30 Oct 2024

Retailers and hospitality businesses are paying three times their economic share in business rates, according to analysis by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and UK Hospitality.
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Independent retail bodies welcome new report aimed at tackling retail crime.

Posted on in Business News

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) and the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) have both 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.

crime scene

The report 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.

Police and Crime Commissioners are responsible for setting the priority of their respective local police forces and holding them to account when assessing their response to crimes like shop theft and abuse.

The report expands on what PCCs are doing to protect retailers and members of the public on a case-by-case basis, showing who the PCCs are working with, what others have said about their approaches, and an evaluation of their approach’s effectiveness.

A wide range of techniques and approaches have been adopted by PCCs, such as introducing new technology to identify offenders, implementing new education programmes to reduce the rate of crime, and changing how police forces respond to calls and incidences.

One example from the report highlights the Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) in West Yorkshire, which introduced forensic marking technology to tag individuals and objects with unique forensic codes to help identify any items or subjects involved in criminality.

This has already reduced the number of calls related to shoplifting by 44% in 3 months following its introduction at Wakefield city centre, and the report notes that there is a great potential for it to improve these rates even further.

 ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We strongly welcome the focus on retail crime in this report, highlighting the work that PCCs are doing across England and Wales to make a difference on retail crime. We’ve been pushing for action to support retailers in reporting and tackling crime for several years, so it is encouraging to see progress being made in this area.

“Implementing the Retail Crime Action Plan is a strong start, but we need to ensure that barriers to reporting are removed, and prolific offenders are identified quickly so they can be apprehended by the police and the full extent of their crimes accounted for.”

In the months leading up to the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in May 2024, the ACS Stop Shop Theft campaign calls on all PCCs to provide essential information about what they are doing to reduce retail crime in their area, to establish a single point of contact on business crime for retailers when reporting incidents, and to provide clarity on how retailers can submit evidence of crimes happening in their stores.

The Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) said it was pleased to see police and crime commissioners (PCCS) across England and Wales are responding to its calls for more action to protect retailers and the public.

Fed officials and members have been meeting with their respective PCCs in recent months to impress upon them the urgent need to tackle attacks and shoplifting, which have soared to epidemic proportions.

The Fed’s national president Muntazir Dipoti said: “We have held numerous meetings with PCCs all over England and Wales to highlight the number of retail crime incidents our members experience day in, day out.

“It is pleasing to discover that the APCC is taking this matter seriously and that police forces are now being held to account in an effort to clamp down on offenders.”

The Fed recently launched its Safe, Secure, Supported campaign calling for government grants of up to £1,500 to help smaller retailers improve their security measures, including effective CCTV systems.

Retailers can contact their local Police and Crime Commissioners through the Stop Shop Theft campaign website

You can read the full version of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners' report here.

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