Posted on Tuesday 4th February 2025
Victoria Wilson with Trading Standards seizures
Preventing £905 million of detriment to consumers and supporting over 12,800 scam victims are amongst the successes of local Trading Standards services across the country during 2023/24.
Trading Standards work to protect consumers and ensure fair trading practices. They enforce laws on product safety, ensure accurate labelling and pricing, and tackle issues like counterfeit goods and scams. They also provide advice to businesses to help them comply with regulations, ensuring a fair and safe market for everyone.
According to the National Trading Standards annual report 2023/24, across England, 839 defendants were prosecuted, prison sentences of over 446 years were handed down and criminals were ordered to pay almost £9.2 million in Proceeds of Crime. In the same year, over 5.1 tonnes of illicit hand-rolling tobacco and almost 1.5 million illicit vapes were seized.
In Staffordshire, over the same period, £25 million detriment to consumers was prevented, more than 220,000 illegal goods were seized and 70 scam victims supported. Thirteen defendants were also prosecuted and ordered to pay fines and court costs totalling £32,000.
Victoria Wilson, Cabinet Member responsible for Trading Standards at Staffordshire County Council, said:
“The work of local trading standards services delivers huge value, from saving consumers millions of pounds to supporting some extremely vulnerable victims.
“These latest figures demonstrate the impact the officers have in the county and within local communities. With such a broad range of areas, from tackling rogue traders and scammers to taking counterfeit and illegal goods off the street, teams work hard to keep communities safe.
“The Service also works closely with legitimate businesses providing information, advice and guidance on a wide range of topics relating to lawful trading.”
The National Trading Standards annual report is available on their website.
Further information or to report an issue relating to unfair trading is available on the Staffordshire County Council’s Trading Standards service webpage.