Dan Peters 19 December 2013

Union: Cuts decimating trading standards

Spending cuts and staffing reductions are ‘decimating’ council trading standards services, trade union Unison has warned.

The union said statistics published by the Department for Communities and Local Government showed that councils’ budgeted spend on trading standards services had fallen by more than a quarter in the three years between 2010/11 and 2013/14.

Unison said this represented a cut of £46m, which had led to a ‘dramatic fall in the number of test purchases being carried out to detect illegal sales of alcohol to minors’.

One trading standards officer in the south-east of England said: ‘Due to staffing cuts locally we are doing fewer test purchases year on year.

‘We’re worried that if we do less and less we lose the deterrent effect, which could undermine recent progress on reducing underage drinking in the UK.’

Helga Pile, of Unison, said: ‘Trading standards is a key council function that is being decimated by spending cuts and staffing reductions.’

SIGN UP
For your free daily news bulletin
Highways jobs

Principal Engineer - Urban Traffic Control (UTC)

Liverpool City Council
£44,711 - £49,764
Liverpool is home to vibrant, energetic and engaged communities. Liverpool, Merseyside
Recuriter: Liverpool City Council

Social Worker Campaign - Adult Services

The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council
Negotiable
Support residents to live more independently, with compassion at the heart of your workSupport residents to live more independently, with compassion a England, London
Recuriter: The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council

Prinicipal Surveyor

Durham County Council
Grade 14 £ 48,710 to £52,805 pa (Pay Award Pending)
We are looking for an individual who has specialist knowledge of property and property processes and who has a professional, positive, enthusiastic an Durham
Recuriter: Durham County Council

Customer Service Adviser (Saturday)

Oxfordshire County Council
£24404 - £24790
About the Role Customer Service Advisers are the first point of contact with library customers and library partners. The role involves continual interaction with users of the library, face to face, via email or by telephone and is a job where you can have Summertown Library, South Parade, Oxford
Recuriter: Oxfordshire County Council

Continuous Improvement Audit Lead

Oxfordshire County Council
£57178 - £60485
About the Role The Continuous Improvement Audit Lead will work collaboratively across our Children, Education and Families directorate, using learning from quality assurance activity to strengthen and develop all areas of children’s services’ skills, Oxford
Recuriter: Oxfordshire County Council
Linkedin Banner