Shoplifting offences have increased by 133 per cent over the past five years, according to official figures.

The number of thefts reported to police jumped from 228,128 in 2020-21 to 530,457 in 2024-25, House of Commons Library data analysed by the Liberal Democrats found.

Despite this, only 19.83 per cent of the offences over 2024-25 led to a charge, the Telegraph reported, with wide variations among the 43 police forces across England and Wales.

The Metropolitan Police were at the bottom of the table, with fewer than 7 per cent of its recorded cases leading to a charge.

This was down from  8.64 per cent during 2020-21 when 31,008 shoplifting offences were reported to the force. The number of store thefts have tripled to 93,626 since then.

Meanwhile, Durham Constabulary had charges in 32.7 per cent of its shoplifting cases, making it over four times the amount of the Met over  2024-25.

Humberside came next in the table (31.9 per cent), followed by Norfolk (30.6 per cent), Cumbria (30.44 per cent) and West Mercia (30.21 per cent).

The figures come after M&S recently called for a stronger police response to retail crime, warning that abuse, violence and organised theft were becoming a routine part of life on Britain’s high streets.

In March, data from the British Retail Consortium also found that more than 14 million people across the UK had witnessed violence or abuse against retail workers over the past year.

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter