Shops Act 1911
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1911 c. 54 |
| Year | 1911 |
Shops Act, 1911
(1 & 2 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 54.
An Act to amend and extend the Shops Regulation Acts, 1892 to 1904.
[16th December 1911]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Hours of employment and meal times.
(1) On at least one week day in each week a shop assistant shall not be employed about the business of a shop after half-past one o'clock in the afternoon:
Provided that this provision shall not apply to the week preceding a bank holiday if the shop assistant is not employed on the bank holiday, and if on one week day in the following week in addition to the bank holiday the employment of the shop assistant ceases not later than half-past one o'clock in the afternoon.
(2) Intervals for meals shall be allowed to each shop assistant in accordance with the First Schedule to this Act.
(3) The occupier of a shop shall fix, and shall specify in a notice in the prescribed form, which must be affixed in the shop in such manner and at such time as may be prescribed, the day of the week on which his shop assistants are not employed after half-past one o'clock, and may fix different days for different shop assistants.
2 Closing of shops on weekly half-holiday.
(1) Every shop shall, save as otherwise provided by this Act, be closed for the serving of customers not later than one o'clock in the afternoon on one week day in every week.
(2) The local authority may, by order, fix the day on which a shop is to be so closed (in this Act referred to as the weekly half-holiday), and any such order may either fix the same day for all shops, or may fix—
(a ) different days for different classes of shops; or
(b ) different days for different parts of the district; or
(c ) different days for different periods of the year:
Provided that—
(1) where the day fixed is a day other than Saturday, the order shall provide for enabling Saturday to be substituted for such other day; and
(2) where the day fixed is Saturday, the order shall provide for enabling some other day specified in the order to be substituted for Saturday;
as respects any shop in which notice to that effect is affixed by the occupier, and that no such order shall be made unless the local authority after making such inquiry as may be prescribed are satisfied that the occupiers of a majority of each of the several classes of shops affected by the order approve the order.
(3) Unless and until such an order is made affecting a shop, the weekly half-holiday as respects the shop shall be such day as the occupier may specify in a notice affixed in the shop, but it shall not be lawful for the occupier of the shop to change the day oftener than once in any period of three months.
(4) Where the local authority have reason to believe that a majority of the occupiers of shops of any particular class in any area are in favour of being exempted from the provisions of this section, either wholly or by fixing as the closing hour instead of one o'clock some other hour not later than two o'clock, the local authority, unless they consider that the area in question is unreasonably small, shall take steps to ascertain the wishes of such occupiers, and, if they are satisfied that a majority of the occupiers of such shops are in favour of the exemption, or, in the case of a vote being taken, that at least one half of the votes recorded by the occupiers of shops within the area of the class in question are in favour of the exemption, the local authority shall make an order exempting the shops of that class within the area from the provisions of this section either wholly or to such extent as aforesaid.
(5) Where a shop is closed during the whole day on the occasion of a bank holiday, and that day is not the day fixed for the weekly half-holiday, it shall be lawful for the occupier of the shop to keep the shop open for the serving of customers after the hour at which it is required under this section to be closed either on the half-holiday immediately preceding, or on the half-holiday immediately succeeding, the bank holiday.
(6) This section shall not apply to any shop in which a trade or business of any class mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act is carried on, but the local authority may, by order made and revocable in like manner as closing orders, extend the provisions of this section to shops of any class exempted under this provision if satisfied that the occupiers of at least two thirds of the shops of that class approve the order.
(7) The power under the Shop Hours Act, 1904 , to fix a closing hour earlier than seven o'clock, shall cease to have effect, and any closing order which is in force at the commencement of this Act shall cease to have effect in so far as it fixes an hour earlier than seven o'clock for any shop to which this section applies.
3 Local inquiries for the purpose of promoting and facilitating early closing.
(1) Where it appears to the Secretary of State, on the representation of the local authority or a joint representation from a substantial number of occupiers of shops and shop assistants in the area of the local authority, that it is expedient to ascertain the extent to which there is a demand for early closing in any locality, and to promote and facilitate the making of a closing order therein, the Secretary of State may appoint a competent person to hold a local inquiry.
(2) If, after holding such an inquiry and conferring with the local authority, it appears to the person holding the inquiry that it is expedient that a closing order should be made, he shall prepare a draft order and submit it to the Secretary of State together with his report thereon.
(3) If the Secretary of State, after considering the draft order and report, and any representations which the local authority may have made in respect thereof, is of opinion that it is desirable that a closing order should be made, he may communicate his decision to the local authority, and thereupon there shall be deemed to be a prim facie case for making a closing order in accordance with the terms of the draft order, subject to such modifications (if any) as the Secretary of State may think fit.
(4) The person who held the inquiry shall, if so directed by the Secretary of State on the application of the local authority, assist and co-operate with the local authority in taking the steps preliminary to making the order.
(5) The remuneration of persons holding local inquiries under this section, and all other expenses incurred by the Secretary of State under this Act, to such an amount as may be sanctioned by the Treasury, shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.
4 Provisions as to trading elsewhere than in shops.
4. Subject to any provisions contained in a closing order, it shall not be lawful in any locality to carry on in any place not being a shop retail trade or business of any class at any time when it would be unlawful in that locality to keep a shop open for the purposes of retail trade or business of that class, and, if any person carries on any trade or business in contravention of this section, the Shops Regulation Acts, 1892 to 1911, shall apply as if he were the occupier of a shop and the shop were being kept open in contravention of those Acts:
Provided that—
5 Provisions as respects shops where more than one business is carried on.
(1) Where several trades or businesses are carried on in the same shop, and any of those trades or businesses is of such a nature that, if it were the only trade or business carried on in the shop, the shop would be exempt from the obligation to be closed on the weekly half-holiday, the exemption shall apply to the shop so far as the carrying on of that trade or business is concerned, subject, however, to such conditions as may be prescribed.
(2) Where several trades or businesses are carried on in the same shop, the local authority may require the occupier of the shop to specify which trade or business he considers to be his principal trade or business, and no trade or business other than that so specified shall, for the purpose of determining a majority under the Shops Regulation Acts, 1892 to 1911, be considered as carried on in the shop, unless the occupier of the shop satisfies the local authority that it forms a substantial part of the business carried on in the shop.
6 Special provisions as to holiday resorts.
(1) In places frequented as holiday resorts during certain seasons of the year the local authority may by order suspend, for such period or periods as may be specified in the order, not exceeding in the aggregate four months in any year, the obligation imposed by this Act to close shops on the weekly half-holiday.
(2) Where the occupier of any shop to which any such order of suspension applies satisfies the local authority that it is the practice to allow all his shop assistants a holiday on full pay of not less than two weeks in every year, and keeps affixed in his shop a notice to that effect, the requirement that on one day in each week a shop assistant shall not be employed after half-past one o'clock shall not apply to the shop during such period or periods as aforesaid.
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