Govt has no plans to scrap Sunday Trading restrictions

The Government has confirmed that it does not intend to increase Sunday Trading hours.

Treasury sources reportedly suggested the idea in order to offset the backlash against plans to increase the business rates multiplier up to 10p for properties valued over £500,000. But a HM Treasury spokesperson has now told The Daily Express that the “Government does not intend to make changes to Sunday trading rules”.

The Sunday Trading Act currently prevents large stores from opening for more than six consecutive hours between 10am and 6pm on Sundays.

Family

The Christian Institute’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert told The Express: “I’m not even sure anyone can articulate the benefits of longer opening hours.

“It doesn’t magically increase the amount of money consumers have to spend. It does, of course, increase overheads.”

A spokesperson for the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) stated: “Longer Sunday trading will take a heavy toll on staff who will come under even more pressure to work, when they would rather be spending time with family”.

Websites

Last year, a top union representative from USDAW highlighted that restricting Sunday trading hours for online businesses and deliveries to align with ‘bricks and mortar’ traders would also be beneficial for families.

John Barstow, an Executive Council Member of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), said that, rather than dispense with Sunday trading hours so that high street shops can compete with online stores, society would actually benefit from a break from trading.

In a letter to The Financial Times, Barstow explained that completely shutting stores on Sunday “makes commercial and entrepreneurial sense. More goods would be bought before Sunday closure and thus feed into productivity.

“Germany has the reputation of being a highly productive economy — and their respect for Sundays through retail closure could be deemed a factor in that.”