Trading Standards Officer

Also known as:

Consumer Protection Officer

Introduction

Trading standards officers enforce consumer protection law. They carry out inspections to check the accuracy of measuring and weighing equipment. Officers investigate complaints and fraudulent goods and practices. They may also give consumer advice.

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Work Activities

Local authorities employ trading standards officers (TSOs) to enforce legislation on the quality, quantity and safety of goods. They make sure we get a fair deal as consumers; when we buy a product, we expect it to weigh or measure the correct amount, to match its advertising description, last as long as the producers claim it will, and be safe.

Trading standards officers regularly inspect trading premises. For example, they may check that shop scales and petrol pumps weigh or measure accurately. Officers can use sophisticated electronic equipment to check that pre-packaged goods are the correct weight.

TSOs also protect the public by monitoring sales of products like cigarettes, alcohol and fireworks to people who are under-age. TSOs may go in plain-clothes to detect traders who make these illegal sales.

Officers also investigate people's complaints and give advice about faulty or dangerous goods, fraudulent practices and misleading advertisements. For example, they examine toys that have easily detachable parts or sharp metal edges, or electrical appliances that seem to overheat. TSOs could investigate complaints that a public house gives less than the full measure of a pint of beer, or that a market trader is passing off pirate copies of CDs/DVDs as the original product.

As well as enforcing the law, TSOs have an advisory and educational role. They explain labelling and packaging regulations to producers and traders, and give talks on consumer protection law to trade and consumer organisations.

Sometimes traders complain about each other. TSOs investigate all complaints and mediate between the parties.

TSOs spend about half their time out of the office in the local area, visiting a wide range of premises including public houses, offices, garages, retail outlets, nightclubs, factories and laboratories.

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Personal Qualities and Skills

To be a trading standards officer, you must be committed to protecting the public's consumer rights and safety. This is a very important responsibility, so you'll need energy, enthusiasm and attention to detail at all times.

Good communication skills are very important. You'll be visiting people's premises, so you must have tact and good negotiating skills. You must be able to explain trading standards regulations carefully.

You may find yourself in stressful situations when people are distressed or angry, so you'll need a calm, professional manner to defuse potential confrontations. Also, you must be able to apply the law firmly, including deciding when to prosecute a trader. Written communication skills are important in producing reports and preparing cases.

Trading standards officers need good organisational skills to prepare and prosecute cases using their own evidence; you must be prepared to appear in court. You'll need administrative and IT skills to keep accurate notes and records. You need good number skills to operate weighing and measuring equipment and to record the results.

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Pay and Opportunities

The pay rates given below are approximate.

Trading standards officers (TSOs) earn in the range of £20,000 - £26,000 a year. Senior officers earn in the range £32,000 - £41,500 a year.

TSOs usually work a basic 37-hour week. However, you may sometimes need to undertake investigations outside office hours, for example, early in the morning, in the evening or at weekends.

Employers are local authorities throughout the UK. Competition for vacancies can be strong. Most trading standards departments are small, so you may need to move to advance your career.

There are some opportunities for experienced staff in the private sector, where they work in quality control.

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Adult Opportunities

It is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

Some entrants have a background in consumer advice, laboratory analysis, health and safety or food hygiene.

The Trading Standards Institute (TSI) offers a framework of trading standards courses leading to professional qualification. A list of course providers is available on the TSI website.

If you don't have the usual qualifications needed to enter your chosen course, a college or university Access course, eg, Access to Science, might lead on to a TSI approved degree. These courses are designed for people who have not followed the usual routes into higher education. No formal qualifications are usually needed, but you should check this with individual colleges.

Training placements and sponsorships for studying trading standards at university may be available from local authorities.

• 60% of people in occupations such as trading standards officer have flexible hours.

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