Trading Standards Service Plan 2022 to 2023

National Trading Standards Board (NTSB)

The National Trading Standards Board is a group of Chief Trading Standards Officers, representing all regions across England and Wales. The Board has been set up by the Government as part of changes to the consumer protection landscape and the development of an enhanced role for Trading Standards. The National Trading Standards Board provides leadership, support and resources to help combat consumer and business detriment across regional and national boundaries. A vast amount of work has been carried out pulling together a national strategic assessment for Trading Standards based on intelligence to identify those areas causing the most detriment to consumers and businesses.

From this strategic assessment, the National Trading Standards Board has developed a control strategy which outlines the national priorities for intelligence, prevention and enforcement activities.

For 2022 to 2023, National Trading Standards Board has identified the following priority areas:

• mass marketing scams
• doorstep crime and cold calling
• energy related fraud
• lettings and estate agency
• fair trading - used cars
• fair trading - other misleading practices
• intellectual property
• illegal tobacco products

The National Trading Standards Board has also recognised that the internet and especially social media is a selling platform of choice for rogue traders and is therefore a cross cutting issue across all priorities. As such e-crime is embedded across all the key priority areas of work, in particular looking at those enablers that allow criminals to function e.g. web site hosting, payment providers, fulfilment houses, bank accounts, intermediaries etc.
Other cross cutting themes and enablers are serious and organised crime and fraud and scams leading from the Coronavirus pandemic.

These priority areas provide a focus for regional and local regulatory activity and collaborative working with partner organisations, delivering national outcomes through local action. Local authorities are empowered to use local discretion and autonomy to select the most appropriate ways to meet the regulatory priorities in their locality.

The service has considered these national priority areas when setting its own key priorities for 2022 to 2023.