About National Trading Standards

About National Trading Standards 

National Trading Standards (NTS) was established in 2012. It receives government funding to commission specialist teams, specific grant funded work and support for serious consumer protection enforcement cases. 

NTS is not the same as local authority Trading Standards Services. While we work closely with these services and other law enforcement partners, NTS does not have any enforcement powers. It cannot provide any advice or direct support to consumers or businesses. It relies on the expertise of the Citizens Advice Consumer Service and Trading Standards to provide this support. 

To report a Trading Standards’ issue or to contact one of our partners, please  click here. 

You can read our current business plan and  last year’s annual report here. 

National Trading Standards Board 

NTS delivers national and regional consumer protection enforcement. Its Board is made up of senior and experienced heads of local authority Trading Standards Services from around England and Wales with an independent Chair. 

Chair - Lord Bichard 

Lord Bichard was made a life peer in 2010 and sits on the cross benches, following a long career in local and central government. Having served as Chief Executive of Brent Council and Gloucestershire County Council, he began a succession of senior government roles in 1990 when he was appointed Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. In 1995, he was appointed as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education and Employment. 

In 2004, he was asked to lead a government inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the murder of two 10-year-old girls in Soham. He was subsequently appointed Chairman of the Legal Services Commission before becoming Director of the Institute for Government in 2008, Chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence in 2013 and served as Chair of the National Audit Office until 2020. In 2021 he completed a review of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

He is currently a Vice President of the Local Government Association. In April 2022 he became the new Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire and in May 2022 became Chair of National Trading Standards. 

Governance 

For more information on the  Governance arrangements please click here. 

Please click here for the  NTS Board’s Terms of Reference. 

Funding 

Funding is provided by the Department of Business and Trade, the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Department for Health and Social Care, the Food Standards Agency, and the Home Office, to support the work of NTS.