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sunday trading

Review of Sunday Trading laws

The United Reformed Church, through its Church and Society committee, makes the following observations. They are not intended to be exhaustive, but to be incorporated into a more extensive submission.

The Department of Trade and Industry has commissioned an independent economic cost-benefit analysis as part of its review. We strongly recommend that it commissions an independent social audit from a group such as the Rowntree Foundation, which would look at how Sunday trading has affected the kind of society in which we live.

The committee has concerns about the social effects of seven-day-a-week working on families; the importance to family and social cohesion of parents spending time with children is well documented.

There are also concerns about the rhythm of life, both for the nation and for individuals and families, if there is no identified day of the week that is different from others. This extends to a more general concern about relaxation of Trading Laws, resulting in shops being open during holiday times, particularly Christmas, which denies people the opportunity for rest and refreshment.

Many people, when asked, say that they want to have access to shops seven days a week, but they also say that they favour a shared day-off, rather than moving closer to a 24/7 society.

Increased seven-day-a-week working makes it more and more difficult for an employee to tell her/his employer that s/he does not wish to work on a Sunday.

Many essential facilities require regular maintenance. The tendency towards increased Sunday working is likely to result in maintenance and renewal of infrastructure being spread across the week. For instance, increased working, and therefore increased travel on Sundays, may mean that closure of rail routes for maintenance has to occur Monday to Friday.

As Sunday trading increases, those people attending town centre churches find it increasingly difficult to find a place to park.