The Scottish Government has introduced plans for a new five-tier system of restrictions intended to fight the spread of coronavirus. This will be presented to the Scottish Parliament for approval on 27 October. If passed, the new system will come into force on 02 November. The proposed system includes a complex series of provisions, limiting different activities at each level. For f...

The Welsh government has provided details of businesses needing to close as part of the “ fire-break” lockdown in Wales lasting from Friday 23 October until Monday 9 November. The default position is that all shops selling goods or services for sale or hire should close apart from a range of stores selling essential products including: Food and drink shops Petrol stations ...

The Home Office has, unexpectedly, published further changes to the new migration and work rules which will come into force from 01 December 2020. The minimum wage threshold for “skilled workers” has been lowered, moving from £30,000 per year to £25,600 per year. Applicants must expect to be paid either this sum or the usual market rate for the intended role, whichever is higher. ...

Your overview of political and economic news with a focus on the food and consumer goods industry, featuring the latest guidance on COVID-19 and planning for the end of the transition period with the EU. Scotland Five tier model The Scottish Government has introduced plans for a new five-tier system of restrictions intended to fight the spread of COVID-19. If passed by the Scottis...

In October 2020, Public Health England (PHE) published its progress report on the sugar reduction programme from 2015 to 2019. The targets rely both on the work of the food industry, and on consumer behaviour change. So what has been achieved and does it align with latest shopper attitudes to sugar?   Publication of the latest progress report on PHE’s Sugar reduction strategy saw ma...

A very tough year At the beginning of 2020, many UK households had endured a decade or more of static incomes 1 , making it difficult to accommodate slow, but sustained, increases in living costs 2 . Some households – especially families – had begun to trim expenditure on food and drink in order to meet other costs 3 . Most had limited cash reserves – some had none – giving no cush...

Your overview of political and economic news with a focus on the food and consumer goods industry, featuring the latest guidance on COVID-19 and planning for the end of the transition period with the EU. Wales – the sale of non-essential goods The “fire-break” lockdown restrictions in Wales are due to start from 6 pm on Friday 23 October lasting until Monday 9 November. Under the ne...

The government has announced that extra financial support will be given to businesses to help offset the impact of the coronavirus emergency. Measures announced this week are updates first announced in September as part of the Winter Economic Plan: Job Support Scheme (Open) – This will come into action on 1 November, replacing the previous CJRS scheme. It will be available acro...

Year-on-year “all items” inflation in the UK edged up slightly in the latest month , moving from +0.5% in August to +0.7% in September (CPIH measure). A major reason for this was ending of the “Eat Out To Help Out” scheme - which was limited to August – reversing negative inflation in this area. ONS has noted that some outlets have continued to offer “unofficial” equivalents of the E...

At the beginning of this week, it appeared that trade talks between the EU and the UK had stalled. Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster gave a statement to the House of Commons on 19 October, indicating that no trade deal was expected before the end of the Transition Period in December. He called on the EU to return to negotiations with greater vigour and flexibility a...