In recent years a growing number of off-licenses have been reportedly agreeing to adopt 'Reducing The Strength' (RtS) initiatives, whereby shops agree not to sell beer or cider of 6.5% ABV or above.
In 2014 we reported on these schemes which were being said to have positive impacts on street drinking and other issues, despite sections of the trade raising concerns or suggesting the opposite effect in some areas.
Camden and Islington Public Health team and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) teamed up to evaluate a Reduce The Strength scheme in two London boroughs (Camden & Islington). In their paper (available here), published in BMC Public Health journal they asked whether and why retailers choose or refuse to self-impose restrictions on alcohol sales in this way. Compliance rates and the cheapest available unit of alcohol at each store were assessed. Qualitative interviews with retailer managers and staff explored attitudes towards the intervention and perceptions of its impacts.
The projects were designed and implemented by licensing teams in partnership with police and public health leads. Visits were Initially made to off licenses to advocate for voluntary participation on grounds of social responsibility, and a launch event helped to raise the profile. Retailers were re-visited 3 and 6 months after the scheme started, for follow up interviews. The researchers explored retailers’ views on the scheme, reasons for (not) participating in RtS, and views on how the scheme impacted on purchasing amongst the target population as well as broader impacts on the retailer and community. Due to the short time span between implementation and evaluation no efforts were made to assess the wider impact of the scheme on levels of drinking, health harms or anti-social behaviour.
Key Findings included:
- Overall there was a significant reduction over the time period in availability of high strength alcohol from off-licenses. Pre-intervention 55% out of 141 retailers stocked high strength drinks, compared with 18% post-intervention.
- Researchers found relatively high rates of participation by off-licences in the intervention areas
- There was an increase in the price of the cheapest alcohol unit available in 17 of the 33 shops surveyed (52%). Of the shops that took part in RtS (n = 22), 85% saw an increase in the price of the cheapest available unit and the median cheapest available unit across all participating shops rose from £0.33 to £0.43.
- Reasons for joining RtS centred on a desire to co-operate with the licensing authorities and wanting to “keep the council happy” by participating. Some retailers understood the positive effect that a reduction in ASB associated with street drinking could have on the community. Across the sample, different perspectives of what constituted ‘voluntary’ emerged, with some believing that the intervention was not voluntary.
- Reasons for not participating in the scheme included the perception of loss of profits and unfair competition if not all retailers complied. Some believed that nothing short of an outright ban on high strength drinks would result in 100% compliance.
- There was a widely held belief among interviewees that the majority of customers were now going elsewhere to buy super-strength beers and ciders.
The evaluation provides some demonstrable initial positive outcomes from the schemes, however because of the short timescales of the follow up they were unable to demonstrate any longer term outcomes such as reduced crime, anti-social behaviour, acute health harms or improved long-term health.
It remains to be seen whether retailers continue to comply with the RtS schemes after the evaluation stage and whether the reduction in availability of high strength beer and cider can be sustained. Furthermore from the local authority’s perspective, organising retailers to voluntarily participate in RtS may be considered a resource intensive way of achieving outcomes that health advocates argue would be more effectively delivered by a national Minimum Unit Price.
Guidance from the LGA on establishing RtS schemes also demonstrates the need for careful consideration and development in order to ensure legal compliance.
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