Yesterday we published our annual Retail Crime Survey to raise awareness of the rising levels of retail crime across the UK.
Our report showed retail crime is at its highest level on record, with incidents of violence and abuse climbing to over 2,000 per day, up from 1,300 the year before. This is more than four times the level of 2020. There were 70 incidents per day which involved a weapon, more than double the previous year.
Theft also reached an all-time high with over 20 million incidents recorded (over 55,000 per day), costing retailers £2.2 billion in 2023/24. Such thefts have become more brazen, with organised gangs systematically targeting stores across the country.
The Crime Survey saw wall-to-wall coverage in the media, with over 2,000 pieces of coverage, and 150 tier one coverage. This helped to drive home the BRC asks around police response and the introduction of a standalone offence for assaulting retail workers (including delivery drivers). There were stories in every major newspaper and broadcaster, including the front page of the Metro. BRC spokespeople did interviews for BBC Breakfast, LBC, Talk TV, Channel 5 News, BBC Local Radio, and many more. Read some of our coverage below:
The ONS also released their own crime figures, which showed a 20% increase in shoplifting. However, these figures – which come from the police reporting – heavily underestimate the level of crime in the UK. With only 480K shoplifting crimes reported by the ONS, this would be equivalent to just 1.5 incidents per store per year.
This is an important issue and while we have seen a commitment from the Government and the Police to help us combat this scourge in crime, we will continue to raise awareness of what some of our industry colleagues have to endure until we see this awful trend reverse.
