Chartered Trading Standards Institute

07/09/2026

🗣️Are you in a customer-facing role? Ready to lead on inclusion and communication?

Become a Consumer Vulnerability Champion 🌟

🚀 The Consumer Friend Academy is launching its next 4-week training programme this November, designed to equip professionals with the skills to better support vulnerable consumers.

Supported by CTSI, this programme is ideal for anyone working in customer-facing, compliance, or service design roles across both the public and private sectors.

You’ll gain practical tools to:
✅Identify consumer vulnerabilities
✅Improve service delivery
✅Drive inclusive and fair practices across the UK

⏳Spaces are limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

👉Book Now: https://ow.ly/vvPS50Z07tY

07/09/2026

04/09/2026

🗣️Are you a Trading Standards professional looking to develop your knowledge and skills in Food Standards?

Delivered by CTSI, this course is designed to support your professional development and help you stay up to date with current legal requirements.

✅This stand‑alone qualification will enhance your understanding of food law, including formal sampling and its practical application, giving you the confidence to carry out your food‑related duties effectively.

👉 Find out more and book your place today: https://ow.ly/sm0i50ZgafL

03/09/2026

Ready to strengthen your expertise in animal health and welfare? 🐾

Book now: CTSI’s Animal Health and Welfare Professional Qualification is aligned with the latest government legislation and designed for real-world impact.

Ideal for professionals across local authorities, government departments, and organisations in the third and private sectors, this qualification equips you with essential knowledge of the regulatory framework and the vital connections between animal health, welfare, food and feed controls, and public health.

📅 Course start date: 19 October 2026
👉 Find out more and book your place: https://ow.ly/UAzY50ZgbFi

02/09/2026

🗣️Professionals working on the frontline of consumer protection are facing increasingly complex situations that demand strong communication, sound judgement and the ability to adapt to emerging challenges.

Do you work in a public-facing role involving enforcement, healthcare, social care, or visits to members of the public? Conflict can arise in any role, and having the confidence to manage them effectively is essential.

Join our Defusing Difficult Situations session and learn how to turn conflict into calm. This session will equip you with practical tools and techniques to tackle evolving threats and common challenges with confidence, helping you to prevent problems from escalating and create an opportunity for a positive outcome.

💡BOOK NOW: Defusing Difficult Situations – Turning Conflict into Calm

You'll learn how to:
✅ Stay calm under pressure
✅ Defuse tension before it escalates
✅ Communicate with confidence
✅ Maintain authority while protecting your wellbeing

📅 13 October 2026 | 10:00 - 13:00
👉 Book your place today https://ow.ly/sxmP50Zx3YR

02/09/2026

🔍 Could the Fraud Act strengthen your investigations?

Join our online training session,"The Fraud Act: Why, When and How?", and gain practical insight into using fraud legislation to tackle serious criminal offending in a Trading Standards context.

Through real-world examples, case studies and interactive exercises, you'll explore the key offences, evidential requirements and investigative considerations that can make fraud legislation a powerful enforcement tool.

📅 5 October 2026
💻 Online via MS Teams
🎓 3 hours CPPD

Book your place today: https://events.tradingstandards.uk/TheFraudActWhyWhenandHow #/

02/09/2026

⚡ Thinking about a plug-in solar panel?

Before you buy, know the risks. Not every home's electrics are ready for one, and using the wrong setup, like extension leads, non-reputable sellers, multiple units, can be dangerous.

✅ Get your electrics checked by a registered electrician.
✅ Buy only from reputable retailers.
✅ Be wary of "up to" claims.
✅Plug-in panels haven't been proven electrically safe for homes, so be cautious.
✅Panels are heavy, and planning implementations for properties aren't yet clear, so do your research first.

You can get more advice from Electrical Safety First's website: www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/safety-advice/products-and-appliances/green-energy/plug-in-solar-panels/

Stay safe. Stay informed. 🏠🔌

01/09/2026

🧠 Understanding neurodivergence is especially important for customer-facing organisations because both your customers and employees are likely to include neurodivergent people. Recognising and accommodating different ways of thinking, communicating and processing information can improve customer experience, employee performance and business outcomes.

🗣️Do you work in a customer facing role, or lead a team working in policy, compliance, accessibility, or digital and service design?

Join CTSI's Neuro-Inclusion Training and learn how neurodiversity and neurodivergence can shape customer experiences and consumer vulnerability.

Learn how everyday services, environments, and communication styles can unintentionally exclude neurodivergent customers and discover the simple, lawful, practical adjustments that can make your services more inclusive, accessible and effective for everyone.

📆14 December 2026 |10.00 - 12.30
👉Book your place now: https://ow.ly/QRaV50Zx6Zt

01/09/2026

📢 Northern Ireland Civil Service is recruiting a Trading Standards Area Inspector.

The current posts on offer will either be based at Belfast (Consumer Affairs Building, 176 Newtownbreda Road) or allocated to a trading standards regional office in Ballymena (Academy House), Armagh (Crown Buildings) Derry/Londonderry (Crown Buildings) or Enniskillen (Crown Buildings).

For more information and to apply, visit https://www.tradingstandards.uk/practitioners/job-opportunities/