Violence against shopworkers has more than doubled in a year, according to Usdaw’s latest annual survey, as official figures show that shoplifting has risen by over a third. Shoplifting is not a victimless crime, theft from shops has long been a major flashpoint for violence and abuse against shopworkers. Having to deal with repeated and persistent shoplifters can cause issues beyond the theft itself like anxiety, fear and in some cases physical harm to retail workers.
The 37% increase in shoplifting in 2023, reaching the highest level in 20 years, is further evidence that we are facing an epidemic of retail crime, which is hugely concerning. Our members have reported that they are often faced with hardened career criminals and we know that retail workers are much more likely to be abused by those who are stealing to sell goods on. Our survey results show that seven in ten of retail workers suffered abuse from customers, nearly half were threatened and 18% assaulted. Theft from shops and armed robbery were triggers for 60% of these incidents.
On 2 May voters across England and Wales will be electing their Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and we welcome the support of Labour candidates for Usdaw’s policing pledge, which calls on elected PCCs to: support Labour’s Community Policing Guarantee; work with local businesses, retail workers and their representatives to make our town centres and high streets safer; ensure that the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Retail Crime Action Plan is fully implemented; ensure that victims of retail crime, including workers, are supported, and work to tackle shoplifting and business crime and make crime reporting simpler.
Electing Labour PCCs on 2 May will make a big difference in local communities, but they need to be backed up by a Labour Government who will deliver key policies to tackle rising retail crime, including: a protection of shopworkers law; increased neighbourhood policing with an additional 13,000 police to patrol in town centres; an end to the £200 threshold for police investigating and prosecuting shop theft; nationwide initiatives that support the complete rehabilitation of offenders, and a properly funded justice system to tackle the backlog and deliver victims of violence and abuse the justice they deserve.
In 2003, Usdaw launched its Freedom From Fear Campaign in response to members’ concerns about increasing levels of violence and abuse. Since then, Usdaw has worked with the public, retail employers, the police and governments to protect retail workers. From 2007 to 2023 Usdaw surveyed between 1,500 and 8,000 shopworkers each year to gather first-hand accounts on the extent of violence, threats and abuse against shop staff.
This year’s survey was based on 5,884 responses received throughout 2023. In 2016, half of retail workers reported abuse from customers. Shockingly, this has now risen to 70%. Usdaw is clear that abuse is not part of the job and it is unacceptable that retail workers are being abused, threatened and assaulted on a regular basis.
We were alarmed by 2023 figures obtained by the Co-op showing that on average 71% of serious retail crime was not responded to by police. This includes incidents where serious violence has occurred and two in every five incidents where offenders have been detained by security guards. Anecdotally, our members frequently refer to the difficulty of getting police to respond to incidents. Alongside retailers we have called for urgent changes in police response and for police to target repeat and prolific offenders.
No-one should feel afraid to go to work, but our evidence shows that too many retail workers are. It is shocking that nearly a fifth of our members working in retail are being assaulted for simply doing their job and serving the community. They provide an essential service and deserve our respect and the protection of the law. Violence and abuse is not an acceptable part of the job and much more needs to be done to protect shopworkers.
The scale of assaults, abuse and threats towards shopworkers and extent of the retail crime epidemic has been a disgrace for many years. This has been made worse by police cuts and a failure to legislate to protect retail staff. Usdaw has long called for action that includes a standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker and that has been vehemently opposed by the current Government and their Conservative MPs on many occasions.
A long overdue U-turn by the Government was recently performed as they finally accepted the need to legislate. This is the culmination of many years of sustained campaigning by Usdaw and others. Our members have had to wait too long for their voices to be heard and common sense to prevail. We will have to see the detail of what they are proposing and it must be at least what we won in Scotland three years ago.
The Government’s dither and delay on this issue over many years, has led to thousands of shopworkers needlessly suffering physical and mental injury. We hope that whatever the Government is proposing will be substantial and effective in giving shopworkers, key workers in every community, the respect that they have long deserved and regrettably too often do not receive.