- Shoplifting incidents hit 5.5 million, costing retailers about £400 million.
- Retail workers faced an average of 36 weapon-related incidents a day.
- New legislation is expected to tighten rules around assault and low-level theft.
Criminal gangs are increasingly zeroing in on stores across the country, with new figures pointing to a sharp rise in retail crime UK and shoplifting UK incidents. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), around 5.5 million cases of shoplifting were recorded over the past year, leaving retailers with losses estimated at about £400 million.
The findings also highlight growing worries around retail workers violence, with shop staff reportedly dealing with an average of 36 incidents involving a weapon every day. Industry leaders say the scale of the problem is feeding anxiety among workers and putting extra pressure on businesses already grappling with tight margins.
Theft on a scale that’s hard to ignore
The BRC described violence against shop workers as “endemic”, with chief executive Helen Dickinson calling for police forces to make retail crime a consistent priority and to commit more resources to tackling it, as quoted in a news report.
Government proposals moving through parliament aim to introduce a specific offence for assaulting a retail worker and scrap the £200 threshold that classifies certain thefts as low level offences, which currently carry a maximum six-month custodial sentence. The measures are part of the wider crime and policing bill expected to be implemented in spring.
Although incidents of violence and abuse dropped by about a fifth to roughly 1,600 a day in the last financial year, down from 2,000 a day in 2023-24, the numbers remain the second highest on record. Before the Covid pandemic, the figure stood at around 455 a day. Physical assaults, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 118.
Dickinson said “no one should go to work fearing for their safety,” as quoted in a news report, adding that retailers have invested heavily in security guards and technology such as facial recognition and tagging systems, alongside what she described as an improved police response.
Cost pressures and changing shopping habits
Some analysts suggest the rising cost of living, including higher prices for essentials like baby formula and dairy products, could be playing a role. Others point to the growth of self-checkouts and reduced staffing levels as factors that may be contributing to the trend.
Joanne Thomas, general secretary of the shop workers’ union Usdaw, said the drop in violence was welcome but staff still face “unacceptable levels” of abuse simply for doing their jobs, reportedly said in a news report. She added that union data indicates two-thirds of attacks on retail staff are triggered by theft or robbery, which can leave workers dealing with lasting anxiety.
The BRC noted that the 5.5 million figure cannot be directly compared with earlier years because survey methods have changed, and suggested the real scale and cost could be higher.
Dickinson also welcomed a government pledge to invest £7 million over three years to strengthen the response to retail crime, alongside plans to add 13,000 neighbourhood and community support officers across England and Wales by 2029. Still, she warned that theft remains a major challenge, with organised gangs reportedly targeting multiple stores and stealing goods worth tens of thousands of pounds in single incidents.
She said sustained enforcement, better intelligence sharing and focused action against repeat offenders would be key, as quoted in a news report, adding that continued prioritisation from police is needed to protect the country’s roughly three million retail workers.
