U.S. retailers aren’t the only group reeling from high rates of retail crime this year; it appears the U.K. has a similar problem. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is reporting that 88 retail leaders, including the head of the USDAW, the union representing retail workers, have signed a letter to the U.K. Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, demanding action over rising rates of retail crime.
Andrew Higginson, chairman of JD Sports and Group CEO Regis Schultz signed the letter, as did Lee Bagwell, CEO of JD Outdoor and the CEOs of U.K. retail giants Tesco, Primark and Marks & Spencer.
The 2023 BRC Crime Survey showed that incidents of violence and abuse towards retail colleagues had almost doubled on pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents every day in 2021/22. It also put the scale of retail theft at £953 million, despite over £700 million in crime prevention spending by retailers. This meant the total cost of retail crime stood at a hefty £1.76 billion for the 12-month period through April.
The situation has clearly gotten worse. According to the BRC, a separate survey of members in 2023 found that levels of shoplifting in ten major cities had risen by an average of 27 percent. The trends are accompanied by the cascading effect of recent press stories detailing the wave of theft and violence currently impacting shops across the U.K.
The retail industry is making two demands of the Government in the letter:
- For the Government to create a standalone offense of assaulting or abusing a retail worker, with tougher sentences for offenders. This would act as a deterrent and provide a clear message that parliament will not tolerate this behavior. It would also require police forces to record all incidents of retail crime, allowing for better allocation of resources to the issue.
- Greater prioritization of retail crime by police forces across the U.K. For one major retailer, the police’s own data shows that they failed to respond to 73 percent of serious retail crimes that were reported. 44 percent of retailers in the BRC’s annual crime survey rated the police response as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor.’
Another report from the Centre for Retail Research (CRC), suggests that shoplifting is costing U.K. retailers £4.4 billion annually, with over one-third of losses caused by employee theft. The CRC estimates the average shopper pays £180 a year to cover the cost to stores of combatting crime, according to their 10th annual survey.
“The average theft by a visiting shoplifter is £93 but criminally minded employees run off with a typical swag bag worth £1,988,” said the report author, Professor Joshua Bamfield, in comments reported by The Guardian.
A coalition of British retail industry groups and USDAW has also written to police leaders in England and Wales calling on them to back a plan to counter a “torrent of theft,” according to recent reporting from Reuters.
In the letter to mayors, the police and crime commissioners, the industry groups, which include the BRC, the Association of Convenience Stores, the British Independent Retail Association, the Federation of Small Businesses and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, reportedly called on police to make it easier for retailers to report crime and share evidence such as CCTV footage.
They also want police resources targeted at getting prolific repeat offenders off the streets and want forces to prioritize collecting evidence of violent attacks against shop workers.
“Shop theft is far from a minor crime, it is the primary trigger for violence and abuse of shop workers and often committed by prolific offenders or organized crime gangs,” the letter read.
“It is vital that action is taken before the scourge of retail crime gets any worse,” commented Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, in a statement discussing the letter to the U.K. Home Secretary. “We are seeing organized gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying stores. We are seeing violence against colleagues who are doing their jobs and asking for age verification. We are seeing a torrent of abuse aimed at hardworking shop staff. It’s simply unacceptable—no one should have to go to work fearing for their safety.
“It’s time the Government put their words into action,” she continued. “We need to see a standalone offense for assaulting or abusing a retail worker—as exists in Scotland. We need the Government to stand with the millions of retail workers who kept us safe and fed during the pandemic—and support them, as those workers supported us.”
