Violence and abuse against retailers falls by a fifth, but ‘unacceptably high’

Violence and abuse against retail workers fell by a fifth last year – but remained at its second highest level on record, figures show.

Incidents involving physical violence against retail staff remained largely unchanged from the previous year, at 118 per day, and there were on average 36 incidents per day involving a weapon, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Crime Report.

The BRC hailed “hard-won” progress that resulted in the overall number of incidents falling from 2,000 a day to 1,600, but said levels remained “unacceptably high” – and far beyond the 455 incidents a day registered before the pandemic.

The improvement reflected 13% of retailers rating the police response to incidents as good or excellent, up from 9% in last year’s report.

Retailers had also spent more than £5 billion in the last five years on improved security measures, including CCTV and security staff, and the investment was “starting to pay off”.

Theft remained a significant challenge, with 5.5 million detected incidents last year – costing retailers nearly £400 million.

The BRC said many incidents went undetected and the true cost was likely to be much higher.

It warned that organised criminal gangs were increasingly targeting high-value, easily resold goods, and exploiting a lack of consequences.

The report also included parcel theft for the first time, which it said cost retailers more than £100 million last year.

The upcoming Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker and remove the £200 threshold for “low level” theft.

BRC chief executive Helen 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.

“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.”

Joanne Thomas, general secretary of 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 5.5 million incidents of shop theft are in no way a victimless crime, with Usdaw evidence showing that two thirds of attacks on retail staff being triggered by theft or armed robbery.

“Having to deal with repeated and persistent offences can cause issues beyond the theft itself, like anxiety, fear and physical harm to retail workers.”