Raj Chandegra, Store owner on how barmy bureaucracy is now among retailers’ biggest burdens!

Red tape is a constant problem for us. Some of it is important to safeguard workers’ rights and their health but some rules and regulations are more for the bigger stores than the small ones. We don’t have enough time to fill out forms. Every minute spent behind the desk filling in forms is time lost on the shop floor.

I am constantly worried about getting it right. Mentally it takes a lot out of you. Most retailers hate paperwork but it is something we have to do and employment regulations are a minefield even for the most professional person. You have to log employees’ hours and do everything properly or you’ll be in the firing line. You are constanly worried about how you treat your staff or you’ll be on the wrong side of the law. The law protects empolyees more than it does employers.

We have to keep a record of holidays. The extra holidays that staff are entitled to has created more work for us. A lot of retailers cannot afford these levels of holiday entitlement. Either the service level in the store drops or the retailer has to pay someone else to cover the shift or he himself has to work long hours. Employees are entitled to holidays but what about the employers’ time off?

The point of sale ban on tobacco products will be another nightmare. There is no proof that underage smoking has been reduced in the countries that have introduced a ban. I have heard through the grapevine that tobacco suppliers won’t fund the new equipment that will be needed to hide the tobacco products. It will come out of the retailer’s pocket and will cost us £2-3000. There will also be the extra cost of the loss of trade so it’s a double whammy.

It will make life more difficult for retailers who will struggle to meet the cost of implementing the new regulations. I don’t know why the government can’t see sense. The bureaurcrats in the UK and Brussels interfere like they did with fruit and vegetables when they said a banana had to be bendy. Now they have reverted back. This just proves how a lot of rules and regulations are barmy.