Retail bosses demand action over rising retail crime
This comes after the BRC’s 2023 crime survey showed that incidents of violence and abuse towards retail colleagues had almost doubled on pre-pandemic levels
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Retail bosses from some 88 companies have signed a letter to the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, demanding action over rising rates of retail crime.
The retail industry has demanded that the government create a standalone offence of assaulting or abusing retail workers, with tougher sentences for offenders to act as a deterrent. This would also require police forces to record all incidents of retail crime.
The retailers also demanded greater prioritisation of retail crime by police forces across the UK. For one major retailer, the police’s own data shows that they failed to respond to 73% of serious retail crimes that were reported.
The other 44% of retailers in the BRC’s annual crime survey rated the police response as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
This comes after the BRC’s 2023 crime survey showed that incidents of violence and abuse towards retail colleagues had almost doubled on pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents every day in 2021/22.
The findings also put the scale of retail theft at £953m, despite over £700m in crime prevention spending by retailers, meaning the total cost of retail crime stood at £1.76bn for the 12-month period to April.
According to the signed letter to Braverman, the situation for retailers has “clearly got worse”, as a separate survey of members by the organisation in 2023 found that levels of shoplifting in 10 major cities had risen by an average of 27%.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “It is vital that action is taken before the scourge of retail crime gets any worse. We are seeing organised gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying stores. We are seeing violence against colleagues who are doing their job and asking for age-verification.
“We are seeing a torrent of abuse aimed at hardworking shop staff. It’s simply unacceptable – no one should have to go to work fearing for their safety. It’s time the Government put their words into action.”
She added: “We need to see a standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail worker – as exists in Scotland. We need the Government to stand with the millions of retail workers who kept us safe and fed during the pandemic – and support them, as those workers supported us.”
