Nick Clegg

Plastic carrier bags have been a near constant on the news agenda these past few years, and moves to implement charging in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have only served to make a similar move in England all the more inevitable.

Yet it was still a surprise to all on Saturday when deputy PM Nick Clegg announced there would be a 5p charge on single-use plastic carrier bags in England from 2015.

Apart from the lack of consultation with Defra prior to Clegg’s announcement, the biggest surprise among retailers, however, was one key difference from the schemes in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

The English scheme mirrors Wales, for example, in allowing retailers to choose the good causes the money spent on bags goes to (while in Northern Ireland the system operates as more of a straight levy with the money going to government).

But the English measure that has everyone scratching their heads is an exemption for retailers with fewer than 250 employees.

UK bag charging

Wales: A 5p charge on all single-use carrier bags was introduced in 2011 and has led to a 75% reduction in their use

Northern Ireland: This month ministers opted not to double the 5p levy introduced in April after encouraging results from retailers

Scotland: The 5p charge will come into force from October 2014. As in Wales, retailers will be expected to donate the proceeds to good causes

England: Retailers will have to charge from 2015, but businesses with fewer than 250 employees will be exempt.

And the irony is that this is not a measure the c-store sector had even asked for, says ACS public affairs director Shane Brennan.

The consistent approach in Wales - charging 5p for all carrier bags - has been working well, says Brennan. In a recent survey of its members, 60% of independent retailers said they supported a charge, he adds.

BRC environment policy advisor Alice Ellison says the exemption is “a matter for concern as having different rules could be confusing for shoppers and thus give mixed signals on plastic bags.”

Both the ACS and BRC say they will be working with Defra to clarify these issues, but a department spokeswoman says the reason for the exemption is so that small retailers are not unduly burdened with the excess cost of having to record the number of bags they give out and where they give the money to. If they are not exempt, many might have to invest in new Epos to record it.

However one industry insider says the system in Wales would be preferable as small retailers are still obliged to charge but are not subject to the same burden of reporting as larger retailers, so as far as shoppers are concerned, bags cost 5p everywhere in Wales.

The Grocer understands the exemption has come about as a result of some horse-trading within the coalition. The Liberal Democrats are the driving force behind the proposals for the charge - hence Clegg getting to announce the policy on the eve of the Lib Dem conference - while the Conservatives are understood to be less enthusiastic, so the exemption represents a victory for the Treasury.

And with the law not due to come into force until after the next general election, there could still be a few alterations to how this system will actually look when it comes in depending on which party or parties are running the country at the time.

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