Written for owners of independent shops and small chains in the UK: convenience and grocery, newsagents and off licences, fashion, gifts, hardware, and garden and farm shops.
The short version
- Honour Sunday opt-outs in England and Wales.Written notice takes effect after three months, or one if they got no explanatory statement in their first two months. Keep weekday hours unchanged.
- Approve each alcohol sale by 16 and 17-year-olds.In England and Wales, an authorised adult must approve every one. Staff of 16 and 17 also have limits on hours, breaks and rest.
- Guard staff against harassment by customers.From 30 October 2026, you're liable unless you took all reasonable steps: in practice, a policy, training and an incident log (As of Oct 2026).
- Train staff to observe, record and report.Never chase a shoplifter. Report every theft to the police with the CCTV, and keep the crime reference.
Shop work has its own staff rules: Sunday trading, young staff on the till and customers who abuse or steal. Violence and abuse against retail staff ran at about 1,600 incidents a day among larger retailers in the year to 31 August 2025 (BRC Crime Report 2026, February 2026; indicative). Each of these has a legal answer, and the instinctive response is not always the right one.
Sunday work
A shop worker can opt out of Sundays
In England and Wales a shop worker can opt out of Sunday work by written notice. It takes effect after 3 months, and the worker is protected from dismissal or any detriment for it. If you did not give the explanatory statement within 2 months of them starting, the notice shortens to 1 month. As of Oct 2026.
Employment Rights Act 1996 Part IV, ss.41 and 42
Cutting her other hours because of the opt-out is the detriment the law protects her from.
Staff aged 16 and 17
Young workers
16 and 17-year-olds may work at most 8 hours a day and 40 a week, with a 30-minute break after 4.5 hours, 12 hours' rest each day and 48 hours each week. In England and Wales, each alcohol sale they make must be specifically approved by the premises licence holder, the designated premises supervisor or an adult they authorise. As of Oct 2026.
Working Time Regulations 1998 regs 5A, 10 to 12; Licensing Act 2003 s.153
- Under school-leaving age: a council permit, and at most 2 hours on a school day and 12 in a term-time week.
- Pay floor from 1 April 2026: £8.00 an hour at 16 and 17. As of Oct 2026.
Harassment by customers
Your duty from 30 October 2026
An employer is liable for harassment of its staff by customers and other third parties unless it took all reasonable steps to prevent it: in practice, a policy, training and an incident log. As of Oct 2026.
Employment Rights Act 2025
For example, if a regular customer keeps making sexual remarks to a 19-year-old assistant, log each incident, ban the customer and keep a record of the training you have given.
Shoplifters and violence
Report every theft and every incident of abuse or violence to the police, with the CCTV, and keep the crime reference. A violent injury that keeps a worker off for over 7 days is reportable under RIDDOR. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 creates an offence of assaulting a retail worker and repeals the low-value shoplifting rule in England and Wales, but each applies only from commencement. Scotland already has its own offence.
Detaining a shoplifter
Anyone may arrest for an indictable offence, and theft is one, but only where a constable cannot act and it is needed to prevent loss or injury, and only with reasonable force.
PACE 1984 s.24A; Criminal Law Act 1967 s.3
A member of staff who chases and injures a shoplifter risks civil and criminal claims.
The harassment defence depends on what you did before anything happened. Write the policy, train the team and start the incident log now, not after the first complaint.
Asked in Greymill
The opt-out: in England and Wales a shop worker can opt out of Sunday work by written notice. Her letter is that notice.
When it starts: 3 months after she gave it (As of Oct 2026).
Or after 1 month: if you did not give her the explanatory statement on her Sunday rights within 2 months of her starting.
The trap: cutting her Thursday because she opted out is a detriment, meaning treating her worse for it. The law protects her from that, and from dismissal for it.
So take her off Sundays from the date the opt-out takes effect, with her weekday hours unchanged.
If it helps, I'll draft a short letter confirming the date her opt-out starts.
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Staff & HR works it through for your business.
I run a shop in the UK with [number] staff, including [number] aged 16 or 17. Draft a short staff handbook section covering Sunday work opt-outs, young workers' hours and alcohol sale approvals, a policy on harassment by customers with an incident log template, and our shoplifting rule: observe, record, report.
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Open the interactive lesson · Every shops and physical retail lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- implementation roadmap (People: pay, hours, young workers and sunday work)
- ERA 1996 ss.41, 42 (People: pay, hours, young workers and sunday work)
- WTR 1998 regs 5A, 10(2), 11(3), 12(4) (People: pay, hours, young workers and sunday work)
- CYPA 1933 s.18 and local byelaws (People: pay, hours, young workers and sunday work)
- LA 2003 s.153 (People: pay, hours, young workers and sunday work)
- WTR as amended by SI 2023/1426, regs 15B, 16A (People: pay, hours, young workers and sunday work)
- Act collection (Shrinkage, crime and staff safety)
- Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 s.1 (Shrinkage, crime and staff safety)
- PACE s.24A (Shrinkage, crime and staff safety)
- Criminal Law Act 1967 s.3 (Shrinkage, crime and staff safety)
- UK GDPR art 12(3) (Shrinkage, crime and staff safety)
- HSWA 1974 s.2; RIDDOR 2013 reg 4 (Shrinkage, crime and staff safety)
- ACS Local Shop Report 2026 (published 7 Sep 2026), headline figures (Market figures, sourced and dated)
- BRC Crime Survey 2025, headline findings (Market figures, sourced and dated)
- press release (Market figures, sourced and dated)
- bulletin; monitor (Market figures, sourced and dated)