industry focus
Civil Recovery Surges in 2023 - is your business missing out?
by Nermina Webster, Business Loss Prevention Ltd.
During 2023, a year of surging inflation, high interest rates and ever-increasing shop theft, many retailers have finally woken up to the benefits of civil recovery - and not before time.
As losses increase and consumers look to retailers to ‘provide the best possible prices’ to help combat the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, they have realised that genuine losses, incurred through no fault of their own, can no longer simply be ‘written off’. Retailers have recognised that they need to recover their losses and put a firm deterrent in place to future offences.
These are the views of Nermina Webster, Solicitor and Managing Director of Business Loss Prevention Ltd, who have been specialising in efficient and effective civil recovery for over 10 years. Nermina’s views are now shared by more and more loss prevention specialists across our industry – enough is enough.
We have been seeing that retailers who have been previously cautious in terms of implementing civil recovery, for reasons such as fear of reputational damage or bad publicity, now understand and recognise that these fears are unfounded.
Choose to work with a reputable civil recovery business and ask them:
· How will you protect my business from potential reputation risk?
· How will you protect my business from bad publicity?
· How will you operate in a legally compliant manner whilst still getting me the best results possible?
If your potential supplier cannot answer these questions and reassure you completely, then they are the wrong provider for you to be entering into a business relationship with.
Seeing stronger uptake in civil recovery has been encouraging. We have recently been engaging with the National Business Crime Centre, exploring opportunities to roll out civil recovery on a much wider basis.
As our police forces struggle to cope with the ever-rising demand of calls to retailers, imagine the benefits of having a national civil recovery service able to service hundreds of retailers, to the same high standards, consistently and with the backing of the National Business Crime Centre. This could be a game changer and a force for good. It also serves as a clear indicator that at national UK level, the benefits of civil recovery are finally being recognised.
So, we see 2024 as having great potential for growth of the civil recovery market in the UK, 2023 having been the turning point.
If your business does not currently use civil recovery then there is a good chance you are missing out.
For further information, please do contact us.
