Violence and abuse against retail workers has fallen by around a fifth over the past year, but incidents remain near record levels, with staff still facing an average of 1,600 cases every day, according to the latest report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
The BRC’s annual Crime Survey shows daily incidents dropped from roughly 2,000 in 2023/24 to 1,600 in the most recent financial year. Retailers have attributed the decline to heavier investment in security, improved collaboration with police forces and closer engagement with government.
However, the headline improvement masks the scale of the ongoing challenge. The figure remains the second highest on record and more than triple pre-pandemic levels, when daily incidents stood at around 455. Physical assaults have shown little sign of easing, holding steady at 118 per day, while there are still an average of 36 incidents involving a weapon every day.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said violence towards shop workers remains “endemic”, warning that “no one should go to work fearing for their safety”.
The report also highlights the persistent and evolving threat of theft. Retailers detected 5.5 million incidents of shoplifting over the past year, with losses estimated at £400m. The BRC cautioned that the real figure is likely to be higher, as many offences go unreported.
Organised criminal gangs are increasingly “systematically” targeting stores, often stealing high-value goods in bulk for resale. Dickinson said gangs were moving “from one store to another, stealing tens of thousands of pounds worth of goods in one go,” placing growing pressure on frontline staff and loss prevention teams.
The nature of targeted products has also shifted. Alongside alcohol, meat and coffee, chocolate has emerged as a frequent target. Several police forces have shared CCTV footage of offenders clearing entire shelves of confectionery, while some supermarkets have begun locking premium chocolate bars in security boxes.
Chains including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Co-op have introduced protective tagging and plastic security cases for commonly stolen items. The Heart of England Co-Op group said chocolate theft alone cost it £250,000 last year, with some individual stores losing thousands of pounds in a single week.
Retail leaders have welcomed forthcoming legislative changes under the government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which will introduce a specific offence for assaulting a retail worker and remove the £200 threshold for so-called low-level theft. The measures are expected to come into force this spring and form part of a wider push to strengthen neighbourhood policing, including plans for 13,000 additional officers and community support staff by 2029.
The BRC noted a modest improvement in police response, with 13 per cent of retailers rating it as good or excellent, up from 9 per cent a year earlier. The government has also pledged £7m over three years to boost the response to retail crime.
But industry bodies and unions warn that progress remains fragile. Joanne Thomas, general secretary of shopworkers’ union Usdaw, said the reduction in incidents was “welcome news” but stressed that retail staff continue to face “unacceptable levels of violence and abuse simply as a result of going to work”.
Usdaw’s data suggests two-thirds of violent incidents are triggered by theft or attempted theft.
Retailers argue that sustained enforcement, better intelligence sharing and dedicated police resourcing will be critical if the recent fall in violence is to translate into long-term change.
For now, while the trend line may be moving in the right direction, the scale of crime and intimidation facing the UK’s 3million retail workers remains stark.
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