The union has submitted evidence to the Home Office outlining the violence, threats and abuse faced by home delivery drivers and has the support of many retail employers in calling for the provisions to be extended. The Bill has passed all stages in the House of Commons.
After agreeing to meet Usdaw, following a request from former general secretary Lord Hannett, Lord Hanson, Labour Home Office Minister said: “Assault on anyone, including delivery drivers, is wholly unacceptable. Everyone should be protected from assault…I have campaigned on this issue for many years. Retail workers have been at the forefront of upholding much of the legislation on solvent abuse sales, tobacco sales, knife sales, drink sales and a range of other issues…I welcome the long-standing campaign from Usdaw and the fact that the ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign has been successful.”
Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “The Crime and Policing Bill includes a much-needed protection of retail workers’ law and we welcome that the Government continues to progress this important legislation. Usdaw has been a leading force on this campaign for over 20 years and we are pleased to now have a Government that is finally taking action after years of the Tories and Lib Dems refusing to act.
“We continue to make the case, along with retail trade bodies and employers, to further explore extending the protection of retail workers law to grocery delivery drivers. They face similar threats to their in-store colleagues, but can be more isolated and exposed on customer doorsteps and in the community. So, we very much welcome the opportunity to meet with the Minister before the Bill moves on to its next stage in the House of Lords.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
Usdaw survey of over 300 retail home delivery drivers working mainly in the grocery sector; and employed by a range of companies including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Asda, Morrisons and Iceland; found that in the last twelve months:
· 77% had been a victim of abuse.
· 13% were assaulted.
· 26% had refused a delivery due to fear for their own personal safety
Abuse is not part of the job for delivery drivers: www.usdaw.org.uk/430
Crime and Policing Bill debate on Wednesday 19 November 2025
Crime and Policing Bill 2025: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938
For further information please contact Usdaw’s Media Officer, David Williams on: 0161 249 2469, 07798 696 603 or by e-mail to [email protected]
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion