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TSI warns many front line staff, such as Trading Standards officers will be made redundant because of council cuts
Up to a quarter of Trading Standards officers could be made redundant as council budget cuts begin to bite; making it tougher for these organisations to tackle rogue traders and scams.
In the latest blow to consumer protection, the local authority cuts that are hitting organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureaux will soon be taking their toll on local Trading Standards (TS) offices around England and Wales.
Trading Standards officers are directly employed by councils. Andy Foster, operations director of the Trading Standards Institute (TSI), the independent organisation which trains these officers, said it would depend on where a council plans to save money.
He said that while some local councils aren't planning any major cuts to their TS operations, many are.
"Councils have to make cuts of around 30 per cent, which could lead to drastic cuts for local Trading Standards offices. As 90 per cent of these offices' budget goes on staff, there will be some that have to make up to 40 per cent of their staff redundant.
"This could mean up to 25 per cent fewer active Trading Standards officers. But there is nowhere else to save the money," Mr Foster told Computeractive.
The news comes as the Government continues to consider giving more responsibility to Trading Standards. This includes taking on many responsibilities from organisations such as Consumer Focus and the Office of Fair Trading.
However, while Mr Foster agreed that these are "worrying and upsetting times", he said he believed that local Trading Standards offices would be able to cope with the Government's proposals on changes to consumer policy enforcement.
"Not all TS offices will be asked to deliver some of the responsibilities that the Government is looking at," he said.
He pointed out that the Government had recently extended funding for the Scambusters and loan shark teams run by nine regional Trading Standards teams for another year.
But the way these are being run and co-ordinated will change. Already the loan shark teams in England are now headed up by Birmingham City Council.
He also said that as the TSI was self-funding, it wasn't so directly affected by either Government or local authority cuts.
But he agreed that as much of its revenue is based on training officers, it will also need to look for new revenue as it also takes on new responsibilities.
"Although things are not ideal, we are quite excited about the future," he said.
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Consumer Protection
I have called Trading Standards on more than one occasion over the past couple of decades. Each time the dispute has been sorted. Even the threat of reporting to this venerable institution is often enough to get any problem well on its way to being sorted. I feel if this body is reduced consumers will be at a higher risk of dodgy dealing from firms trying to shirk their responsiblities.
Posted by Linda Reed, 24 Feb 2011
Extent of cuts
I am a TSO. Currently (in the enxt service year 2011-12) in my authority we are able to protect services to the public, however the cuts will continue over the next two years at similar levels and will effect the provision of non-satutory services i.e. civil law advice provision and mediation services. It is likely this will be expected to be picked up by charitable providers i.e. CABx's. The estimate of 25% cuts is the expected level of reduction, as this is the size of the cuts being make over the next 3 years to the whole of local govt, starting on 1st April this year. This is the same for all local govt services, which are all being cut to varying degrees, some more than others depending on public reactions, education and social service cuts being protected more than others as this is more politically sensitive and provoke more public reaction than cuts to services such as trading standards and enviromental health services. There are no easy responses to these events and they will happen over the next 3 years. Consumers will need to be more careful what they buy and be able to look after themselves!
Posted by Dean King, 25 Feb 2011