The King has just delivered the Government’s plans for the new Parliament and it can only be welcomed that the new Crime and Policing Bill will tackle retail crime by creating a new specific offence of assaulting a shopworker and introduce stronger measures to tackle low level shoplifting.
The need for action is underscored by the British Independent Retailers Association’s 2024 Retail Crime Survey that revealed that 35.5% of respondents experienced verbal abuse from individuals in their shops but 66% of those subjected to verbal abuse chose not to report it. Being involved in incidents of robbery where threat or aggression is used can lead to workers considering a change in career or being unable to return to work due to stress with small and micro retailers often targeted but this new offence should mean that criminals know they will be punished.
In addition, retail theft crimes have risen three times as quickly since the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, compared to figures before this legislation was put in place. This is because this legislation introduced the £200 threshold of low value crime which means that a defendant has been given the opportunity to plead guilty by post if they have stolen less than £200 worth of goods and will normally then receive a penalty notice – the same consequence as receiving a parking ticket. This new Bill provides the perfect opportunity for this to be revoked and allow retailers to feel confident that they are supported by the justice system and that criminals will be properly punished.
Fiona Cuthbertson, Director of Keystone Consulting said: “Our work with the British Independent Retailers Association has meant that we have called for both these initiatives for a very long time we are pleased that the new Government have committed to supporting our retailers. The £200 threshold has always been a major barrier to providing retailers with the protection they deserve and to have the opportunity to remove this from the statute books is good news. We are hopeful that this will happen through this new Crime and Policing Bill”.