Preventing over £17 million of consumer harm including the seizure of thousands of counterfeits and potentially dangerous goods are amongst the successes of Staffordshire County Council’s Trading Standards service last year.
This, together with protecting residents from doorstep crime and rogue traders, busting online text and telephone scams, protecting livestock, while supporting legitimate businesses made up their work.
Dealing with the ever increasing availability of illegal vapes and e-cigarettes continues to present challenges for the service. Over the year, the team seized more than 9,436 illegal items worth an estimated £113,232. The fight against illicit tobacco continues with more than £1,000,000 illegal cigarettes and 116kg of illegal tobacco with a street value of £325,000 being seized.
In addition to its enforcement activity, officers also dealt with over 1600 requests for support from businesses, including food businesses for advice on allergens and responsible food labelling.
Victoria Wilson, Cabinet Member responsible for Trading Standards at Staffordshire County Council said: “The work of our Trading Standards service often goes unseen, but the work they do in protecting our communities is invaluable.
“With the current cost of living pressures, when people cannot afford to lose money through fraud or scams, it’s more important than ever that households are protected. These crimes can not only affect people financially but can have a really negative impact on their physical and mental health too.
“Just as important to the service is making sure there is a level playing field for legitimate businesses to trade as many continue to face difficult trading conditions.
“Our Trading Standards service is also a key weapon in the fight against law breaking businesses. Working closely with partner agencies, their valuable work saving consumers millions of pounds of harm and supporting some extremely vulnerable victims continues.”
Estimates from a previous Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) suggest there were 5.1 million fraud offences in the year ending September 2021. Additionally, Citizens Advice found in the first 5 months of 2021 more than two thirds of adults (36 million) had been targeted by a scam. Those over 55 were most likely to be targeted over the phone (73%).
The success of the trading standards work has also prevented a potential £4 million cost on health and social care services by protecting people from the impacts of being scammed.
