Dear Rocio,Our local trading standards service recently helped my husband and I out enormously. Why can’t they do more?Name and address received
Rocio says: You could be forgiven if you hadn’t spent much time mulling the work trading standards does and how effectively it carries it out. But consider the breadth of its remit in clamping down on unfair or even illegal business practices and you get a sense of how its work affects our everyday lives.
This is a foundational public service, based within local authorities, that matters to people; whether they are consumers needing protection or businesses that deserve to compete on a level playing field against others.
The protection after a scammer sells you a product advertised online that never arrives. The cowboy builder promising to lay your patio but vanishing with your money before it’s finished.
These are the kinds of activity trading standards was set up to deal with country-wide, taking unscrupulous businesses to task.
The reality is quite different. As Which? discovered, not all trading standards teams operate to the same level. When we asked all 187 trading standards services in England, Wales and Scotland, we found shocking disparities in staffing levels.
Places like Anglesey and Ceredigion in Wales have more than 15 staff per 100,000 people. In Orkney, there are almost five trading standards staff covering the islands – the equivalent of almost 21 staff per 100,000 people. But in several London boroughs, including Barnet, Enfield and Lambeth, there is less than one officer per 100,000 people.
Stretched so thinly, their essential work from intercepting fake and dangerous products to rooting out misleading food claims, is nigh-on impossible.
The consequences aren’t trivial. This postcode lottery means unscrupulous traders continue getting away with illegal activity, ripping people off and leaving them to face devastating consequences, financial and emotional.
Some reported no criminal prosecutions in the 2023-24 financial year and 38 services told us they no longer prioritise proactive work like routine inspections, potentially leaving space for unscrupulous business practices to go unnoticed.
It’s a depressing reflection of the more than 50 per cent cuts made to spending on trading standards over the past decade, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute says.
The current situation is unsustainable. As businesses become increasingly more complex, multinational and online, the need for a reformed enforcement model first developed decades ago, is pressing.
What can be done? Encouragingly for the Government, which is under pressure with pleas for more money in the forthcoming spending review, trading standards reform is about better use of resources.
Which? thinks ministers should commit to a root-and-branch review of the service and think about how improvements can achieve better value for money.
This must ensure it is easier for local trading standards services to take legal action; tailored help to those authorities failing to provide even basic support; and an appropriate balance of resources and skills at central, regional and local levels.
Underpinning this must be better intelligence-sharing and effective regulatory powers.
The motivation for a more effective consumer enforcement system shouldn’t just be the desire to provide consumers with adequate protection from crime, dangerous products and blatant rip-offs.
It will also be good for economic growth. Better enforced consumer protections aid competition because people feel safer shopping. It also helps responsible businesses selling legitimate products avoid being undercut by unscrupulous traders.
Rarely do reforms come with a trio of benefits. But trading standards reform, within the wider consumer enforcement landscape, would benefit both consumers, in the form of strengthened protections; legitimate businesses, through a levelling of the playing field, and boost to the desire for economic growth.
Ministers should grab the opportunity.
Rocio Concha is director of policy and advocacy at ‘Which?’ To have your questions featured on this page, email [email protected]
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