Criminal gangs are “systematically” targeting shops, retailers have warned, with 5.5m incidents of shoplifting detected last year, costing the industry an estimated £400m.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned over “endemic” violence towards shop workers – who faced an average 36 incidents of violence involving a weapon every day last year – and said high levels of theft was causing “anxiety” among retail staff.
Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the BRC, called on police to consistently prioritise tackling retail crime and commit “dedicated resourcing” to the problem.
The BRC research comes after the government put forward new legislation to back a stand-alone offence for assaulting a retail worker and to remove a £200 threshold for “low level” theft, which has a maximum six-month custodial sentence.
The measures form part of the crime and policing bill that is passing through parliament and is expected to be implemented this spring.
Incidents of violence and abuse against shop workers fell by a fifth to 1,600 a day last financial year from 2,000 a day in 2023-24, with 13% of retailers rating the police response as good, or excellent, up from 9% a year before, according to the BRC’s annual survey of retailers on crime.
However, the number of incidents remains the second highest on record and more than triple the 455 a day recorded before the Covid pandemic. The number of physical assaults was unchanged, at 118.
Dickinson said: “Violence remains endemic. No one should go to work fearing for their safety, and we must redouble our efforts to bring these numbers much further down once and for all.”
She added that heavy investment by retailers in more security guards and gadgets such as facial recognition and security tags, as well as an improved response from the police in the past year, had cut violence and abuse against retail workers.
Some experts argue that the rising cost of living, including the increasing price of basics such as baby formula and dairy products, and retailers’ efforts to cut labour costs by using technology such as self-checkouts have contributed to the problems.
Joanne Thomas, the general secretary of the shop workers’ union Usdaw, said: “The drop in violence and abuse is welcome news, but both Usdaw and BRC data shows that retail workers continue to face unacceptable levels of violence and abuse simply as a result of going to work.
“The 5.5m incidents of shop theft are in no way a victimless crime, with Usdaw evidence showing that two-thirds of attacks on retail staff are being triggered by theft or armed robbery. Having to deal with repeated and persistent offences can cause issues beyond the theft itself, like anxiety.”
The 5.5m incidents of recorded retail theft cannot be compared with prior years as the BRC survey has changed its methods in representing the data. It estimated the true number of incidents and cost of the crime could be much higher.
Dickinson welcomed the government’s promise to plough £7m over the next three years specifically into supporting an increase in the response to retail crime. The measures are part of a wider plan to improve local policing, with 13,000 additional neighbourhood and community support officers across England and Wales by 2029.
However, she said: “Theft remains a huge issue, with an increasingly concerning link to organised criminal gangs, who continue to systematically target one store after another, stealing tens of thousands of pounds worth of goods in one go.
“Retailers, the police and government must continue to work together, building on the great work done so far, focusing on consistent enforcement, better data and intelligence sharing, and targeted action against prolific offenders and organised gangs.
“However, turning this into real impact requires sustained prioritisation and dedicated resourcing from police. For the sake of the 3 million hard-working people in retail, this work must not stop.”
