Key Welsh members from the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) including the postmaster at Tenby Stores and Post Office, Vince Malone have been highlighting the challenges they face, and the need for Government grants to combat retail crime.

The Fed members recently met with Cardiff Central Senedd Member, Jenny Rathbone, at Albany Road Post Office, to highlight the key services their shops provide and the challenges they face.

Mark Dudden, the store’s owner, hosted the visit, and was joined by Vince from Tenby Post Officer, as well as the Fed’s political engagement coordinator Doug Oliver.

The Fed has repeated calls for government grants to improve security in smaller stores, following the announcement of investment in facial recognition technology for police forces.

After the meeting, Mr Dudden said: “This is an important time for the Fed and its members and we discussed the challenges for small shops caused by retail crime and higher costs, as well as the Fed’s manifesto that we recently published ahead of the Senedd election on May 7 this year.

“I explained that though the shop and post office employs about 20 members of staff, higher costs including rising taxes and costs for security to deal with retail crime are making it harder to employ more staff.

“We discussed the important services provided by the post office, particularly access to cash. as well as the myriad of other services it offers and also how that drives footfall for the business.

“We also spoke about the planned deposit return scheme for recycling (DRS) and how this could also boost footfall for independent business, so long as the scheme is cost neutral for shops.”

In its recently published manifesto, the Fed identified three priorities for the new Welsh government – a £6,500 grant to enable independent retailers to install modern CCTV to combat retail crime; the creation of and funding for a Retail Crime Taskforce that is a similar way to the one that exists in Scotland; and a crackdown on rogue trading by providing ring-fenced funding for trading standards officers.

The Fed has also welcomed the Home Office’s announcement to make police presence more visible as part of the Neighbourhood Police Guarantee.

Under the reforms, response officers will be expected to reach the scene of the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in cities and 20 minutes in rural areas, and forces will be expected to answer 999 phone calls within 10 seconds.

South Pembrokeshire Labour MP Henry Tufnell said that he was pleased that the Government has committed to tackling shoplifting.

“Having had conversations with shop owners all across Pembrokeshire, I understand how much stress shoplifting causes,” he said.

“A big factor in the rise of shoplifting has been the £200 cap — legislation brought in under the previous government that meant anything shoplifted under the value of £200 wouldn’t be prosecuted.

“For years, police haven’t had the powers or capacity to pursue these cases — but that’s now changing, with the Government scrapping the £200 cap.

“This means all shop theft will be pursued and investigated, regardless of value.”