A blog about the work of Trading Standards in the UK
This was originally posted in August 2013 What happened? In this case Surrey Trading Standards prosecuted Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) for misleading consumers into signing up to their services by using misleading sales scripts. SSE were found guilty in Continue reading Surrey County Council v Scottish and Southern Energy Plc
This post was originally posted in August 2013. Some of the links are now dead and so have been removed. Earlier this year, the union Unison published a report that looked at what effect the budget cuts of the last Continue reading Cuts to Trading Standards – Unison Report
Trading Standards are often judged by the public on the enforcement action we take – specifically criminal prosecutions. This is probably because it is one of the few things that Trading Standards do that regularly makes it into the news. Continue reading The enforcement of the law
In my previous post I mentioned that in order to make a complaint (or request advice) you will probably have to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service. The details of your complaint will then be passed to your local Trading Continue reading Making a complaint – properly
If you are trying to contact Trading Standards you will most likely have to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service who will act as the first point of contact. This often confuses members of the public who think of Citizens Continue reading Citizens Advice Consumer Service
An important question when trying to justify your existence…. I am going to look at it from the perspective of why we are important to the Council. Councils are responsible for providing a wide variety of services which benefit their Continue reading Why are Trading Standards important?
In my last post I highlighted the areas of work Trading Standards are involved in but in this post I am going to discuss what the purpose of a Trading Standards department is. This is an important issue for two Continue reading What is the purpose of a Trading Standards Department?
Every Trading Standards department will be set up slightly differently depending on how the local authority (council) has decided to set it up – for example some are merged with Environmental Health or Planning departments. Below I have listed the Continue reading What do Trading Standards Do?
Some of the issues that Trading Standards deal with have been occurring for hundreds of years – for example short weights (buying something by the weight but not being given enough) or food adulteration (getting poorer quality food than what Continue reading A brief history of Trading Standards
I was inspired to start this blog after reading the blogs of other public sector workers providing an insight into their respective fields. I think there is widespread misunderstanding amongst the public about what Trading Standards actually do so hopefully Continue reading Welcome to my blog about the work of Trading Standards in the UK