Trading Standards Service Performance Report 2024 to 2025

The primary aim of the Trading Standards Service is to provide a fair and safe trading environment for the benefit of both consumers and reputable businesses within the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. This is done through a mix of advice, education, enforcement and partnership work.

Key areas of work, which support local, regional and national priorities, are identified through the service planning process. For 2024 to 2025, the service identified five key priority areas which are highlighted in these pages, along with some of the main achievements in each of those priority areas.

• the service has dealt with over 750 complaints, including those handled by the Trading Standards Advice Centre and those investigated by Trading Standards Officers. In addition to this, our partner agency, the Citizens Advice Consumer Service, has provided advice to over 1,000 local residents within the Borough
• a rogue trader was prosecuted for fraud and unfair trading, after an investigation looking into substandard and incomplete building work at a property in Ingleby Barwick. The trader was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years, with 150 hours unpaid community work. He was also ordered to pay £31k in compensation to the consumer and £9k in legal costs
• during the year, Trading Standards Officers visited almost 600 business premises in the Borough. Through these contacts a variety of activities were carried out, including checks on whether businesses were complying with fair trading rules, advice on the labelling of foodstuffs, checks on the safety of products offered for sale, the validity of pricing information and the accuracy of weighing and measuring equipment in use for trade
• the service has again participated in the Food Standards Agency's regional animal feed hygiene inspection and sampling programme. This work helps ensure that local farms and animal feed establishments are complying with regulations to protect the safety of animal feed and hence the onward integrity of the human food chain

• the service received almost 70 requests for business advice on specific Trading Standards issues such as civil law responsibilities, product safety, e-commerce and food labelling requirements
• guidance on the rules regarding the sale of corrosive substances was drafted and hand delivered to almost 60 local hardware and DIY stores across the Borough. This was particularly aimed at preventing the sale of these dangerous substances to children
• officers have continued to advise local food establishments about the rules requiring the provision of accurate allergen information at the point of sale. Over the past year, officers have carried out 175 visits to food outlets in the Borough and checks with regard to the control and management of allergens in food were made in 116 of these visits
• the service took part in a regional project looking at letting agents and their compliance with relevant legislation, including the Tenant Fees Act 2019, and membership requirements with regard to redress and client money protection schemes. As part of this project, 20 local letting agents were visited, advised and brought in to compliance

• work has continued on Operation CeCe in conjunction with HMRC and other regional Trading Standards partners, looking into the supply of counterfeit and illicit tobacco across the region. This work has led directly to the seizure of almost 50,000 cigarettes and the closure of eight premises within the Borough, each for a three month period, under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
• throughout the year, officers have carried out regular underage sales test purchase exercises with young volunteers. This is to check whether shops are selling age restricted products such as alcohol, cigarettes, vapes and fireworks, to underage children. There were nine positive sales from a total of 49 attempts, giving a failure rate of 18%. On two occasions the sale of a vape to a child volunteer was used as evidence to help secure a three month closure order against the shops in question
• a significant amount of work was undertaken during the year, looking at the safety of disposable vaping devices on sale within the Borough. Many were found on sale without the necessary approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and contained over the permitted limit of 2ml liquid and 2% nicotine. Many also lacked the required safety information. In total officers seized over 7,000 non-compliant vapes
• officers have carried out checks at certain designated roads within the Borough covered by environmental weight restrictions. These restrictions are in place to prevent heavy goods vehicles from using unsuitable routes, in order to protect infrastructure, reduce congestion, protect the environment, and help keep pedestrians and other road users safe. Four monitoring exercises have been carried out, with 20 contraventions noted and investigated

• the Service has signed a partnership agreement with the National Scams Team (NST) to help in identifying, advising and educating those vulnerable local consumers who are being targeted by scam mail and other mass marketing scams. As a result, officers have contacted over 40 victims following priority referrals from the NST
• no cold calling zones have been introduced around the Borough to reduce the number of bogus callers and rogue traders operating in particular areas and to help educate and empower residents in dealing effectively with cold callers. During the year, another new zone was established, bringing the total number within the Borough to over 150
• working in conjunction with colleagues from Environmental Health, joint visits were carried out to all funeral directors in the Borough, to ensure that they were operating to a high standard of care, dignity and respect. This came after concerns were raised nationally about standards within the sector, following a serious incident in another part of the country
• work around scams awareness and fraud prevention is ongoing. Trading Standards Officers regularly send notifications on current and trending scams to the Council's Media Team for circulation via social media and press releases. Articles on scams awareness continue to be published in Stockton-on-Tees News and officers attend regional multi agency meetings to coordinate measures around fraud prevention

• customer satisfaction levels for the Trading Standards Advice Centre remained exceptionally high with a remarkable satisfaction index of 100%
• the service has helped local consumers recover over £125,000 in redress following complaints about the supply of faulty, unsafe or misdescribed goods and services
• on average, officers received over 50 hours of training over the year, with the vast majority of this being free or low-cost events hosted through the North East Trading Standards Association or the Chartered Trading Standards Institute
• the service has embraced a 'grow your own' approach in order to develop and train qualified Trading Standards Officers. In September 2024, the Service appointed two new Apprentices, now registered on the Level 6 Trading Standards Professional apprenticeship. This means that we now have three Apprentices working towards the Level 6 qualification, alongside two current Enforcement Officers hoping to complete the final stage of the Professional Qualifications Framework in November 2025