Trading standards teams with limited resources are not always investigating scams, counterfeit goods and other crimes, Which? has found.
We sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 187 trading standards teams in England, Scotland and Wales and found dramatically varying resources across trading standards services.
This included a number of teams deprioritising key areas, which could leave both consumers and businesses exposed to a greater risk of harm.
Routine inspections ditched
Worryingly, our research reveals that 19 councils across the country did not carry out any routine inspections of businesses at all in the 2023-24 financial year.
This means breaches of consumer protection laws could go undetected, and businesses could miss out on support in complying with them.
Areas most commonly deprioritised were:
- proactive surveillance, such as routine inspections and planned test purchases (45 councils)
- intellectual property theft or counterfeit goods (25 councils)
- metrology and weights and measures, including checking that businesses are not short-changing customers on the size of products or servings (24 councils)
- scams (8 councils)
Barnsley, Leicester, Luton, Moray and Wiltshire Trading Standards told Which? they have deprioritised fraud in the last five years.
Areas which had deprioritised counterfeit or intellectual property ranged from counties such as Derbyshire, Denbighshire and West Yorkshire, to metropolitan areas including Brighton, Luton and Wolverhampton.
The trading standards postcode lottery
We also used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover where there are gaps in trading standards resources, finding a postcode lottery across Britain with jaw-dropping differences in staffing levels depending on where you live.
In Orkney, there are almost five trading standards staff – the equivalent of nearly 21 staff per 100,000 people.
But in Enfield, north London, there’s just one full-time officer (plus a one-day-a-week admin assistant and a one-day-a-week contractor) responsible for enforcing more than 290 pieces of legislation. That’s just 0.43 staff per 100,000 people.
- Find out more: Which? reveals trading standards postcode lottery
Little accountability
There is currently no public government data on the performance levels of local trading standards teams, meaning little accountability or oversight over the way our consumer enforcement system operates at a local level.
However, our research shows many of these services are under enormous strain, meaning consumers may find themselves more exposed to crime due to a lack of enforcement.
This includes fraudsters trying to steal their money or sell fake goods. It could also mean consumers are short-changed and pay for smaller quantities than they expect in places such as pubs, restaurants and petrol pumps.
Which? believes urgent and serious reform is needed. The hollowing out of enforcement services has left some areas with less than one trading standards officer per 100,000 people, often leaving stretched enforcement teams taking on large companies and sophisticated criminals with low resources.
- Find out more: legal help with your consumer rights issue
Harm to businesses
It’s not just consumers that end up suffering due to the lack of resources in trading standards.
The sale of counterfeit goods also harms genuine businesses. Manufacturers, often from abroad, are mimicking products made in Britain and selling them at a fraction of the price online.
Dyson Airwrap hairdryers are among the well-known products that are constantly ripped off. Suffolk Trading Standards intercepted 500 of these last year, which were deemed an electric shock and fire risk.
And many more are likely to be slipping through the net.
Will Butler-Adams, chief executive of Brompton, has also complained about inferior and potentially dangerous copies of his company’s folding bicycles being sold more cheaply online.
Moorcroft Pottery, a ceramics company based in Stoke-on-Trent that has been in business for over 100 years, recently announced that it would cease trading. Stoke-on-Trent City Council leader Jane Ashworth said that ‘illegal forgeries from overseas’ are one factor making life very difficult for manufacturers.
Glencairn Crystal, a Scottish-based family firm and one of the largest manufacturers of whisky glasses in the world, told Which? that it was spending hundreds of thousands of pounds every year in legal fees to have fake versions of its product removed from online marketplaces.
What Which? is calling for
Which? wants the government to restructure the consumer enforcement system, with more focus on its effectiveness, including how well it uses intelligence and shares services. Which? also wants to see greater oversight and accountability.
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: ‘Trading standards teams do vital work to investigate and take action against firms ripping consumers off, but as our research shows, important areas are being deprioritised.
‘This means that serious consumer crimes, such as scams, are going uninvestigated in many parts of the country, leaving consumers to pay the price.
‘Urgent reform is needed. The government must restructure the consumer enforcement system, with more focus on its effectiveness, how well it uses intelligence and shares services, and ultimately greater oversight and accountability.’
- Find out more: how to shop safely online
About our research
Which? sent Freedom of Information requests to all 187 trading standards services across England and Wales in July 2024 and received responses from all.
Of these, 147 services answered our question about areas deprioritised in the past five years.
