retail environment
Retail crime at highest level on record
Retail crime is spiralling out of control and at its highest level on record, according to the British Retail consortium’s (BRC) latest findings.
The BRC’s Annual Crime Survey published this month revealed incidents of violence and abuse against retail sector employees in 2023-2024 climbing to over 2,000 per day - up from 1,300 the year before and more than three times the figure posted in 2020.
These episodes have included racial or sexual abuse, physical assault or threats with weapons which represent 70 incidents per day, more than double when compared to the previous year.
Furthermore, the BRC survey said 61 per cent of respondents describing the police response to incidents as either ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Theft has also reached an all-time high with over 20 million incidents - 55,000 per day - costing retailers circa £2.2 billion in 2023-2024, which is up from £1.8 billion the previous year
Many more incidents are linked to organised crime, with gangs systematically targeting stores right across the country, stealing tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of goods and rotating their activities around multiple stores.
The amount spent on crime prevention is also at a record high, with retailers investing £1.8 billion on measures such as CCTV, an increase in security personnel, anti-theft devices and body-worn cameras. The previous years spend was £1.2 billion.
This takes the total cost of crime to £4.2 billion - up from £3.3 billion - and adds to the wider cost pressures retailers already face, further limiting investment and pushing up prices for customers everywhere.
The Government has pledged to address the rise in retail crime through stronger measures designed to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour, including removal of the £200 threshold of ‘low level’ theft.
In The King’s Speech, the Government also announced that it would introduce a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker.
Retailers will certainly be looking very closely at the details of the Crime and Policing Bill to ensure that its protections apply to all customer-facing retail workers, from those behind the tills all the way through to delivery drivers.
Helen Dickinson, CEO of the BRC, observed: “Retail crime is spiralling out of control. People in retail have been spat on, racially abused and threatened with machetes. Every day this continues, criminals are becoming bolder and more aggressive. We owe it to the three million hardworking people in retail to bring the epidemic of crime to heel. No-one should go to work in fear.”
Dickinson added: “With little faith among retailers in police attendance, it’s no wonder criminals feel they have licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse. Retailers are spending more than ever before on security measures, but they cannot prevent crime alone. We need the police service to respond to and handle every reported incident appropriately.”
“We look forward to seeing crucial legislation to protect retail workers being put in place later on this year. Only if the industry, Government and the police service work together can we finally see this awful trend being reversed.”
Paddy Lillis, general secretary of Trade Union Usdaw (the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) explained: “The scale of the epidemic of retail crime is laid bare in this shocking report from the BRC. Crime has a very direct impact on the viability of stores as retailers go to increasing lengths and expense to make them secure and safe.”
Chris Brook-Carter, CEO of retail industry charity The Retail Trust, said: “People are contacting our Helpline in their thousands to report horrifying incidents of abuse and violence and many of them say that they are now at breaking point.”
“Clearly, stronger measures are needed to prevent this criminal behaviour from happening in the first place.”
