Sunday trading
These regulations relate to the hours that retailers are allowed to open on Sundays and Christmas Day. They restrict larger shops to a maximum of 6 hours trading on Sunday.
There are three pieces of legislation that apply to Sunday trading:
- The Sunday Trading Act 1994
- The Regulatory Reform (Sunday Trading) Order 2004
- Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004
Tell us what you think should happen to these pieces of legislation and why, being specific where possible:
- Should they be scrapped altogether?
- Can they be merged with existing regulations?
- Can we simplify them – or reduce the bureaucracy associated with them?
- Have you got any ideas to make these regulations better?
- Do you think they should be left as they are?
I think that all large sotres should only be allowed to open for a sox hour period onj sundays and that they should have to stay shut on christmas day and easet sunday!
I would also take it a step further and suggest that all large stores should only be open for a six hour period on all bank holidays as this would allow people to spend time with thier families!
In my opinion Sundau Trading should be somewhat tighter regulated, there is nothing that cannot be purchased during Monday to Saturday trading hours that warrants Sunday Trading on the present scale.
Sunday Trading has been partially responsible for the demise of the traditional family which spent time together on a Suunday. There is only a certain amount of money to go round, andtraders takings are spread over seven days as opposed to six, the only increase being in overheads, i.e, staff pay and utility bills, mainly electricity. [text deleted]
I do not think under any circumstances that the current legislation should change to allow shops to open longer on Sundays or open at all on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. Why do we need shops open for any longer than they are currently? Why would anybody need to shop on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday? These are precious days that people who work in the retail industry have with their families and this needs to be maintained
Shops are open too long as it is. Families are being torn apart. Quality time with our children has been lost, and children have lost out big time in their time with mum and dad.
large supermarkets should close on Sunday to give shop workers time with their families
We already live in a nation where very little family time is apparent in our everyday lives. We live in a materialistic society. It is good to have ambition and to strive forward but should this really be at the expense of our already little family time and at the expense of our relationships? The children are our future, but today’s children are getting more and more unruly. By taking parents away to work longer hours is only going to make things worse. Not to mention giving families more hours in the day to go shopping rather than spend quality time together. Children want to be taken to the park to play and explore, they don’t want to be dragged around a department store. We are already a hard working country. Lets not become even greedier than what we already are; allow us the luxury of a little time spent with our loved ones.
I think the existing regulations should be left as they are.The larger shops are already trading with plenty of opening hours.
i work every sunday not through choice but it was the only way to get a job,at the moment i get sunday premium and also i work every bank holiday again not through choice you have to make itworth while for people to go to work antisocial hours.Christmas day and Easter sunday should be left as religious festivals,this is a christian country and it is a time to be spent with the family.
Personally, I think that there should still be a restriction, but it should be lessened. In my opinion, it should be that Sunday trading hours should be upped from 6 hours to 8 hours instead. Christmas day should still remain closed entirely, as it is a day where work shouldn’t even be considered. Easter Sunday however should have the restriction changed to the same of that on a Sunday, with an 8 hour opening period only. It is not an important day for most people these days and poses no reason to be closed.
Please reconsider the 6 hour Sunday trading limit on stores. I understand that some people want to keep Sunday as a day of rest, but the rest of us have jobs & lives. Even increasing it to 8 hours on a Sunday would enable shops to open for a reasonable amount of time – supermarkets shutting at 4pm is so inconvenient.
You don’t say why shutting at 4pm is so inconvenient? What is it you can’t get done in 6 hours? Please do tell
Leave well alone thankyou retail workers such as myself who work for large retailers work hard enough and believe in family time especially on sunday, Christmas etc Where would our family be if we did not have a sunday & christmas sit down for food it already a broken society why why oh why are we trying to erode thing even more…oh yer i guess it’s big Money talking…. [text deleted]
The bans on opening stores on Christmas Day & Easter Day should be abolished – it is socially divisive for one faith to dictate when everyone should be able to shop and work. Fairer legislation would quarantee workers of all faiths two days holiday to be taken on the religious festival of their choice. Market forces would then decide if it was viable for shops to open on these dates.
Shps are open long enough, famiy values will be lost if this law changes
People do not need longer opening hours, shops only close for 2 days a year (Easter Sunday and Christmas Day). People need time at home together not working or shopping. People are quite capable of shops being shut one day a week – you can buy enough bread and milk to last 2 days!
If you can’t guess I’d like shops to be open less and certainly not more.
Though I am all in favour of the existing ban on deliveries to stores in the early hours of Sunday morning, there seems no good reason why large stores should not be allowed to open between midnight and 6am. That should have no effect on competition with smaller stores.
On the other hand, why should larger stores be allowed to open between 10am and 1pm on a Sunday? In Northern Ireland they may open only between 1pm and 6pm. That should be the practice in England and Wales too. Why? Because the Sunday trading laws are designed to allow smaller shops to close without facing competition from the larger ones while they themselves are closed. Preventing such competition only until 10am does not give smaller shopkeepers the chance to have much of a lie-in on a Sunday morning, does not allow them to attend a church service on a Sunday morning, does not allow them to play football with their kids or go for a decent walk with their spouse, does not allow them to prepare Sunday dinner, etc, etc. So change the Sunday opening times for large shops from 10am-6pm to 1pm-6pm; but allow them to open from midnight to 6am if they really want to.
do not agree with sunday opening, even if it is volantry. to many people being made to work. as for christmas and boxing day opening, why? the big stores only give staff christmas day if they are lucky.do customers really have to have shops open every single day?. Ever heard about family time?
Dear Sir (s)
Please keep Sunday trading hours as they are. If people want to desperately shop past 5pm they can do it online. I’ll be working until an infinite retirement age as it is, so would like to know I would get at least Easter and Christmas day off. Maybe the government should have a look at where all the UK’s money is really going/ gone and let at least a few traditions that bring happiness to the UK stay put.
The opening hours and times should remain as they are!