The campaign comes as the Crime and Policing Bill, which introduces a variety of measures to protect convenience stores and tackle retail crime, continues to pass through Parliament. These include increasing police presence in neighbourhoods and high streets, introducing a standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker, and using interventions to help take offenders out of the cycle of reoffending.
Usdaw’s latest annual survey of nearly 9,500 retail staff showed that over three-quarters had suffered verbal abuse and far too many had been threatened or assaulted. Two-thirds of respondents said that incidents of violence, threats and abuse they had experienced were triggered by theft or armed robbery. Shoplifting continues the trend of persistent quarterly increases, with incidents now having more than doubled since the pandemic
Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson said: “Stealing from shops and abusing retail staff is unacceptable and the Government wholeheartedly supports the #ShopKind campaign. We are taking robust action to stop this criminality and are bringing in a new specific offence for assaulting retail workers and have ended the effective immunity for shop theft of goods under £200. After years of declining police officer presence in our communities, we are putting 3,000 more neighbourhood police officers onto our streets this year, which will better protect our town centres and help restore public confidence in communities.”
Paddy Lillis - Usdaw General Secretary said: “Usdaw very much welcomes the #ShopKind campaign, which brings together voices from across the retail sector, politicians and the police to promote a message of respect for retail workers. These are key workers delivering essential services in every community and we stand together to say that abuse should not be a part of their job.”
James Lowman, ACS chief executive said: “We are proud to deliver the #ShopKind campaign this year and are grateful for the widespread support it has received from across the sector and our customers. We hope that the campaign reminds everyone to be considerate to shopworkers, and that it will continue to raise awareness about the violence and abuse that they face when serving their communities.”
Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “As the number of incidents of violence and abuse against our hard-working retail colleagues rises, the #ShopKind campaign is more important than ever. Victims are ordinary people - teenagers taking on their first job, carers looking for part-time work, parents working around childcare. It is unacceptable that any of these people should ever go to work fearing for their safety. We remind customers to shop kind and be respectful to retail workers and fellow customers.”
Paul Gerrard, Director of Campaigns and Public Affairs, Co-op, said: “Co-op is dedicated to the need for healthy and more resilient high streets, where people and communities can thrive and grow, and where anti-social behaviour, abuse, and violence has no place. We are seeing improvements with greater collaboration between businesses, policing and Government action including the creation of a standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker, the scrapping of the £200 limit for shop theft and commitments to tackling neighbourhood crime. Co-op supports the #Shopkind campaign.”
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
#ShopKind https://nbcc.police.uk/business-support/shopkind/shopkind-webpage
Crime in England and Wales statistics show that in the year to March 2021 (during the pandemic), there were 228,250 police-recorded incidents of shoplifting. The latest statistics show a rise of 127% since then to 516,971 in 2024.
Usdaw’s annual survey of 9,481 retail staff found that in the last twelve months:
• 77% experienced verbal abuse.
• 53% were threatened by a customer.
• 10% were assaulted.
Full report: www.usdaw.org.uk/FFFReport2024
Crime and Policing Bill: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion