Shoplifting cases jump 20% to record 530,000, ONS finds

Shoplifting offences in England and Wales have surged 20% to their highest level in more than two decades, according to the latest official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

According to data for the year to March 2025, police recorded exactly 530,643 shoplifting offences, which spells a 20% increase on the previous year. This is also the highest figure since current police recording practices began in 2003. 

In addition, police recorded a 15% rise in theft from the person, reaching 151,220 offences over the same period. Both types of theft have increased sharply since the pandemic.

Overall, police recorded 1.8 million theft offences in the year to March 2025, unchanged from the previous year. Vehicle offences and burglary, however, both fell by 8%, to 350,070 and 245,284 offences respectively.

Tom Ironside, director of business and regulation at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: “The ONS figures prove what retailers have long been telling us – that retail theft is spiralling out of control. Retail theft costs retailers, and their customers, over £2.2bn a year and are a major trigger for violence and abuse against staff. While the causes are manifold, the rise in organised crime is a significant concern, with gangs hitting store after store, even within a single day. 

“These stats come as the UK experiences record levels of retail crime with incidents of violence and abuse climbing to over 2,000 per day. These incidents are not restricted to those working in stores: delivery drivers are often subjected to abuse, physical violence, and threats with weapons. As a result, many are being equipped with protective measures, such as personal safety devices to alert the police of their whereabouts, and DNA spit testing kits.”

He added: “Following our representations, the government is taking action to address retail crime through the new Crime and Policing Bill. Retailers hope this will play a vital role in protecting retail workers from harm and tackling the surge in theft. It will remove the £200 threshold for ‘low level’ theft, which will send a clear signal that all shoplifting is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This Bill needs to go further and protect all retail staff working in customer facing roles, just as the Workers Protection Act does in Scotland.”

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), which provides a more consistent measure of long-term trends, estimated 2.8 million theft incidents in the latest year. This marks no statistically significant change from the 2.7 million incidents recorded in the previous year.

The ONS noted that while the survey is the most reliable indicator for long-term crime trends, police data is useful for tracking specific offences that are consistently reported and recorded, such as burglary.