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<\/div>\nRetailers are demanding urgent action from the Home Secretary over rising levels of retail crime, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reports.<\/p>\n
According to the trade association, 88 retail leaders have signed a letter to Suella Braverman making two demands of the government.<\/p>\n
The retail industry firstly wants the government to create a standalone offence of assaulting or abusing a retail worker, with tougher sentences for offenders.<\/p>\n
Secondly, they called for greater prioritisation of retail crime by police across the UK, after police data for one major retailer showed they failed to respond to 73% of serious retail crimes that were reported.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, 44% of retailers in the BRC\u2019s annual crime survey rated the police response as \u201cpoor\u201d or \u201cvery poor\u201d.<\/p>\n
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free<\/strong><\/h5>\nSign up\u00a0here\u00a0to g<\/span>et the latest news straight into your inbox each morning<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe letter follows the 2023 BRC Crime Survey revealing incidents of violence and abuse towards retail staff had nearly doubled on pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents per day in 2021\/22.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it put the scale of retail theft at \u00a3953m, despite more than \u00a3700m being spent by retailers on crime prevention.<\/p>\n
As a result, this meant the total cost of retail crime stood at \u00a31.76bn for the 12-month period to April.<\/p>\n
A separate BRC survey of members this year found shoplifting rates across 10 major cities had jumped by an average of 27%.<\/p>\n
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: \u201cWe need to see a standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail worker \u2013 as exists in Scotland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need government to stand with the millions of retail workers who kept us safe and fed during the pandemic \u2013 and support them, as those workers supported us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter follows the 2023 BRC Crime Survey revealing incidents of violence and abuse towards retail staff had nearly doubled on pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents per day in 2021\/22.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it put the scale of retail theft at \u00a3953m, despite more than \u00a3700m being spent by retailers on crime prevention.<\/p>\n
As a result, this meant the total cost of retail crime stood at \u00a31.76bn for the 12-month period to April.<\/p>\n
A separate BRC survey of members this year found shoplifting rates across 10 major cities had jumped by an average of 27%.<\/p>\n
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: \u201cWe need to see a standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail worker \u2013 as exists in Scotland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need government to stand with the millions of retail workers who kept us safe and fed during the pandemic \u2013 and support them, as those workers supported us.\u201d<\/p>\n