As the Government looks again at ensuring legislation on the sales of bladed items in the UK encompasses everything needed for public safety, a review which BHETA supports, the trade organisation has stepped up its ongoing campaigning to have round-ended cutlery knives removed from current Offensive Weapons Act 2022 legislation.  

This move is widely supported by bodies including Trading Standards and the Metropolitan Police, as all parties agree that cutlery cannot be included in any kind of OWA definition.

The proposed exclusion is important because of the financial impact of the consequent age verification on cutlery suppliers.  As BHETA explains, the current inclusion of cutlery knives in the 2022 guidance has led to significant compliance burdens for retailers, with every sale of normal, round-ended cutlery knives, and cutlery sets containing such items, requiring age verification on sale and delivery.  The costs and administrative burden to UK businesses is significant at a time when government support for economic growth is critical. Some BHETA members report annual costs nearing £50,000 for online age verification systems – costs which include changes to packaging, POS and merchandising instore, and to outer packaging in the case of items delivered direct to consumers.   Retailers face additional costs such as staff training.

BHETA’s cutlery campaign

In the light of the latest Government review, BHETA has written to Government MPs at the Home Office and the Treasury, to Home Office Civil Servants and to senior opposition politicians to urge them to exempt ‘non-lethal’ items such as ‘round ended cutlery knives’. 

Specifically, this has included:

Government Ministers - 

• Yvette Cooper MP (Secretary of State for the Home Department)
• Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP (Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention)
• Jonathan Reynolds MP (Secretary of State for Business and Trade)
• Sarah Jones MP – Minister of State (Minister for Industry)

Opposition MPs - 

• Chris Philp – Shadow Home Secretary, Conservative
• Andrew Griffith – Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Conservative
• Lisa Smart – Home Affairs spokesperson, Liberal Democrats

BHETA is now urging suppliers to write to their local MP in support of the campaign and has created a template letter for relevant parties, available via www.bheta.co.uk.

Specifically, BHETA and the industry requests that the Home Office use the upcoming Crime & Policing Bill as an opportunity to exempt blunt-ended cutlery knives from the OWA.

It proposes:

• Collaborating with BHETA and the industry to address this issue.
• Amending the legislation to exclude blunt-ended and rounded cutlery knives from the requirements for two-step age verification.
• The Home Office to issue updated guidance specifying that only sales of sharply pointed cutlery knives, such as steak knives, fall within the scope of Section 141A, and that round-ended table cutlery knives are excluded from this, and all other legislation aimed at reducing sales of dangerous knives to under 18s.

Legal background

Section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act made it an offence to sell a knife to an under eighteen. Until 2022, this legislation was applied by retailers and enforced by law-enforcement using common sense to exclude round-ended and blunt cutlery knives.  Guidance issued by the previous government in 2022, stated that a normal round-ended cutlery knife was “likely to be captured” by the restrictions under Section 141A CJA 1988.  The same 2022 Guidance went on to state that “cutlery knives (other than sharply pointed steak knives)” are not considered bladed products for the purposes of the regulations introduced by OWA2019 and were not dangerous or used in violent crime.

This has created a contradiction: while a normal round-ended cutlery knife is not a bladed product for the purpose of the OWA 2019, the 2022 Guidance draws such harmless items as normal cutlery knives within the restrictions meant to capture sharp and dangerous items.

BHETA’s overall stance on the knife legislation

BHETA has been at the forefront of campaigning to ensure that knife crime legislation is robust and workable, while not penalising legitimate cooking, food preparation, craft, and dining sales for suppliers, retailers, and consumers.  In 2018, in response to the issues affecting the sales of knives and bladed items, BHETA set up a supplier / retailer steering group to identify collaborative initiatives which contribute to responsible and safe knife retailing, such as Challenge 25 packaging and POS.  Ever since, it has supported the Metropolitan Police Knife Retailing group as well as Trading Standards, hosting their representatives and attending meetings at New Scotland Yard.  

More details of BHETA’s lobbying programme can be found on the BHETA website www.bheta.co.uk