If you would like to download resources to help you with your safeguarding risk management plan, the guidance materials below are available to download, free of charge. If you wish to discuss any aspect of the training or your safeguarding responsibilities further please contact the Safeguarding Licensing Manager at SCSP Safeguarding Licensing SCSPsafeguardinglicensing@sheffield.gov.uk
The training is provided by the Sheffield Children Safeguarding Partnership, South Yorkshire Police and Trading Standards.
Together we explore safeguarding risk management in business settings such as shops, bars, pubs, takeaways, cafes, events, night clubs, sport and entertainment venues and a range of other places where children and young people go. Topics include:
- your legal and social responsibilities and partnership work (licensed/unlicensed businesses)
- managing risk around alcohol and other age restricted products
- what happens if things go wrong: the consequences of breaking the law; due diligence and protecting your business
- children who work/volunteer/perform
- providing a family friendly environment
- substance misuse
- harmful gambling
- child criminal and sexual exploitation
- police violent incident protocol
- drink spiking.
- How to develop your safeguarding risk management plan
- The role of the safeguarding lead/coordinator
- How to report safeguarding concerns
We will also discuss partnership campaigns in the city. There’s no cost, the training is free of charge. The training is provided as e-learning so it is available to you and your staff online at anytime.
Click here to Self-Register for the training
Businesses
There are several laws in force which place age restrictions on a number of products to protect the health and safety of young people. It is illegal to sell or supply these products to people who have not reached the required age.
Age restricted products
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Product
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Age limit
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Alcohol
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18
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Tobacco products (Including cigarettes, cigarette papers)
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18
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Electronic cigarettes (vapes) including nicotine products (e-liquids)
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18
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Fireworks
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18
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Lighter refills containing butane
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18
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Volatile substances and solvents (when it is believed that they are likely to be inhaled or are for the purposes of being intoxicated)
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18
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Offensive weapons (knives, knife blade, axe, any other article which has a blade or is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to a person)
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18
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Lottery tickets and scratchcards
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16
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Video recordings (including computer games)
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12, 15, 18
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Reporting under age sales
If you suspect a retailer of selling age restricted products to people who are under the minimum age, you can report it by:
Legislation
Legislation for these products are:
- Cigarette Lighter Refill (Safety) Regulation 1999
- Intoxicating Substances Supply Act 1985
- Fireworks (Safety) Regulations 1997
- National Lottery Etc Act 1993
- Children and Young Persons Act 1933
- Video Recordings Act 1984
- Licensing Act 2003
How is the law enforced?
The Trading Standards Service is committed to reducing the number of illegal sales, and seeks to do this by working with businesses, offering advice and guidance, investigating complaints, and by conducting test purchase exercises with young volunteers in order to assess the level of compliance. In such cases, volunteers follow strict national guidelines to ensure fairness.
Trading Standards Officers and the Police enforce jointly the law prohibiting sales of alcohol to children.
The Trading Standards Department is always ready to give business advice and information to traders about under-age sales,
Alcohol
What does the law say about the sale of alcohol to young people?
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- It is an offence for anyone to sell alcohol to a person under the age of 18.
- A store manager or person in charge of the premises where a sale has been made to a person under the age of 18 can be held responsible if he knowingly lets the sale go ahead.
- A person who buys or attempts to buy alcohol on behalf of a person under the age of 18 commits an offence.
Who enforces the law?
The Trading Standards Service and the Police work together in order to enforce the law on sales of alcohol to young people.
Should I display any notices for customers?
There is no legal requirement to display a warning notice. However, you may want to consider displaying them conspicuously as part of your system for avoiding illegal sales. A suitable form of wording might be:
"It is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under the age of 18"
What are the penalties for breaking the law?
If an illegal sale is made, you could be prosecuted and face a fine of up to £5000. If a member of staff makes an illegal sale of alcohol they could be served with a £80 penalty notice for disorder (on the spot fine). Additionally licence holders could face prosecution, and if found guilty a fine of up to £5000. Depending on the circumstances, you may also find that the licence is called for review / revocation.
Tobacco Products
It is against the law to sell tobacco products (including tobacco, cigarette papers and cigars as well as cigarettes) to anyone under the age of 18. All sales are affected. Sales from vending machines are banned.
Illegal nicotine products come in a variety of forms, but one most will be familiar with is shisha.
What is shisha?
- Shisha is also called hookah, narghile, hubble bubble or a waterpipe.
- Shisha tobacco is heated by burning wood or charcoal. It produces smoke which bubbles through a bowl of water and is breathed in through a long pipe with a mouthpiece at the end
- Shisha is usually fruit flavoured to make it sweet.
- As shisha contains tobacco, it is classed as a tobacco product. A tobacco product is defined as “a product that can be consumed and consists, even partly, of tobacco
From 1 June 2025, single-use (disposable) vape products will be banned in the UK, as the Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) Regulations 2024 take effect.
The aim of the ban is to reduce plastic waste and promote more sustainable vaping options.
The new regulations define a single use vape as a product that is ‘neither designed nor intended to be reused’.
It includes devices that are refillable but not rechargeable, devices that are rechargeable but not refillable and devices with non-replaceable coils.
The ban applies to all single-use vaping devices, including zero-nicotine, CBD and health or vitamin devices.
The ban applies to all importers, retail outlets, vaping product manufacturers, wholesalers, convenience stores, market stalls, petrol stations, specialist vape shops and supermarkets.
Vapes - Non-Compliant or Counterfeit
Some of the devices on sale:
- Exceed legal nicotine levels (Over 2% or 20 mg)
- Contain too much liquid (over 2 ml)
- Are incorrectly labelled and have no traceability
- May contain banned substances
- Are associated with organised criminal gangs and fund other criminality
- Are easily accessible to under 18’s
- May lead to undesirable contact between buyer and seller
Trading Standards is becoming increasingly concerned about these disposable vapes and their popularity amongst school-aged children who shouldn’t have access to them. Nicotine is highly addictive, and minors should NOT be exposed to it or be experimenting with its use.
Signage
You will need to display a tobacco age sign (the statutory notice) stating:-
‘It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18’
As before, the notice must be at least A3 in size (420mm x 297mm) and the letters must be at least 36mm in height. You may be able to obtain such a sign from your supplier of tobacco products.
What are the penalties for breaking the law?
On conviction, the maximum penalties are:-
- £2,500 in respect of an underage sale of tobacco products
- £1000 in respect of failing to display the statutory notice
An effective system to prevent underage sales
You should have a system in place to safeguard against underage sales being made. Staff should always ask for proof of age whenever a young person attempts to purchase tobacco products or other age restricted product, and many retailers now adopt a ‘Challenge 25’ policy whereby anyone under appearing the age of 25 is asked to prove their age.
Staff Training
Ensure that staff are fully trained in respect of the change in the law, and their responsibilities under it. You should also ensure that staff follow the systems you have in place to avoid underage sales being made. Depending upon the circumstances, both the sales person and the owner of the business can be liable for an illegal sale.
Proof of age cards
Sheffield City Council Trading Standards Service and Sheffield Children Safeguarding Partnership support the use of proof of age cards such as Citizens Card. Such cards are for young people aged 12 to 18 years. The aim of the cards is to ensure that age restricted products are only sold to those legally entitled to buy them and they also help those who look younger that they are to prove their age.
When carrying out test purchases by using young volunteers Trading Standards and the police will check whether the volunteers are challenged about their age, by being asked to provide proof of age. All staff should be trained to always ask for such proof of age and staff members should receive regular refresher training. Shop staff should be trained to effectively but tactfully deal with customers who might be under age. It should be remembered that it is often the ones who know that they look old enough who will attempt to buy products, both for themselves and for their friends.
What Trading Standards do
We carry out regular test purchasing exercises to off-licences using young volunteers.
We respond to specific complaints and also carry out assessments of risk for the Sheffield area.
We frequently deal with problems relating to age restricted products and underage sales through routine inspection, advice to traders and education.