Respect Orders allow courts to restrict or require specific actions from adults to prevent anti‑social behaviour, with breach treated as a criminal offence. It may prohibit specified behaviours and/or require the respondent to undertake positive actions like rehabilitation and engagement with services. Conditions must avoid interfering with work, education, or conflicting court orders.
Joanne Thomas, Usdaw general secretary says: “We have campaigned, along with many retail employers, for substantial legislative measures to combat shop crime and we are pleased that the Government passed the Crime and Policing Act in April. The Act delivers new Respect Orders for offenders, starting today, which is welcome and we hope they will be successful in changing the criminal behaviour that is blighting our shops and communities. The Act also included a much-needed protection of retail workers law, which still needs to be brought into force and we urge Ministers to do that as soon as possible.
“Retail crime remains at epidemic levels with over half a million shop theft incidents recorded, although levels have declined slightly over the last nine months. This is not a victimless crime. Dealing with repeated and persistent offences can cause issues beyond the theft itself, like anxiety, fear and physical harm to retail workers on the frontline. It is our hope that these new measures will help turn the tide on shop theft and give retail staff the safe working environment they deserve.”
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 with around 370,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also represents many workers in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
Crime in England and Wales statistics: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/policeforceareadatatables
Usdaw’s survey of 8,980 UK retail staff found that in 2025:
78% were verbally abused
54% were threatened
11% were assaulted
Full report: www.usdaw.org.uk/FFFReport2025
Usdaw’s Freedom from Fear Campaign seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against workers by engaging the public, shop workers and the Government.
Crime and Policing Act 2026: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/20/contents
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion