Are relaxed Sunday trading rules the answer to growth?

Stores deemed as non-essential retail are allowed to reopen in the UK today (15 June) for the first time since March. This step should be seen as a cause for celebration but is likely to be overshadowed by the re-emergence of the age-old row over relaxing Sunday trading laws.

At the weekend, The Times reported the government was considering waiving the current rules that restrict larger stores from opening for longer than six hours between 10am and 6pm on a Sunday. There were few details, but it is understood it is one of a number of measures likely to be put forward as part of a multibillon-pound stimulus plan that could be introduced from next month. The relaxation would be for an initial period of one year.

Fierce opposition

What is clear already is that opposition to this move, in some quarters, is likely to be as fierce, if not more so, as ever. Previous bids to change the status quo, which has been in place since 1994, have been faced down by the Keep Sunday Special campaign, an alliance of shopworkers’ union Usdaw, the Association of Convenience Stores and the Church of England.

In these matters, Labour and its MPs tend to follow the union view that a relaxation would put further pressure on shopworkers and their families. The ACS can also play the small business card, but historically it has been the intervention of the Church of England that has swayed enough Tory members to rebel and thus defeat the idea.

This time, it looks as if Usdaw and the ACS will have an even stronger argument. A relaxation of the rules now would be a “kick in the teeth for the key workers and local shop owners that kept the nation fed and supported their communities throughout the worst of the coronavirus crisis thus far,” says one industry source.

The sentiment was outlined in a letter sent to business secretary Alok Sharma by Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis this weekend.

“Usdaw members and their colleagues have been working throughout this crisis, keeping the shelves in our supermarkets stocked,” he wrote. “This move to deregulate Sunday trading hours would come across as an opportunistic use of the coronavirus crisis and a slap in the face for each and every worker in retail and the food supply chain. I would hope that the government would instead spend its time exploring how we can ensure that these low-paid key workers can get the pay and job security they deserve.”

There are also serious question marks over whether such a move would in fact provide enough of a boost to the economy to warrant such a seismic change.

While an extension to Sunday Trading would reduce the loss of sales brought about by new measures such as social distancing, some believe the retailers most set to benefit would be big supermarkets – notably Morrisons and Asda – who are in the fortunate (and rare) position of not needing a shot in the arm right now. As ACS CEO James Lowman says, this would “serve only to displace trade from the local shops that have been keeping communities going during this pandemic”.

A different mood

When the crisis first took hold, there were meetings between the major supermarkets and the government in which relaxing Sunday trading was touted as a potential way to ease the pressure on retailers struggling to keep shelves full and communities fed. These calls quickly abated as it became clear that retailers were better off cutting opening hours in order to replenish shelves and give their staff some much-needed respite.

But while retailers may choose to cut hours, rather than open longer, particularly if footfall isn’t strong, the mood has changed. Staff and customer safety will be crucial and that comes with extra costs, such as refitting stores to enable social distancing, employing marshals on the doors to manage customer numbers, installing Perspex screens and extra cleaning. And other large retailers, including non-food retailers, are understood to want longer opening hours at least for a limited period.

Crucially, Boris Johnson and special advisor Dominic Cummings are long-term advocates for a change – on the basis that a stimulus of any kind will be welcome.