1300 incidents a day: Survey shows violence against shop workers tripled over pandemic

Violence and abuse against retail workers have been tripled over the pandemic, a new survey by the British Retail consortium has shown.

According to BRC’s latest crime survey, average number of incidents per day jumped to 1,301 in 2020-21, from 455 per day in 2019-20. Of the 1301, 125 were violent.

The trade body noted that the spike was concentrated in a significantly reduced number of stores and retail operations as much of the industry was closed throughout the year because of Covid-19 restrictions.

However, only 4 per cent of incidents resulted in a prosecution. Unsurprisingly, three-in-five respondents described the police response to incidents as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.

The total cost of retail crime stood at £1.5 billion, with £663 million lost to customer theft and £715 million spent on crime prevention.

“Despite retailers investing significantly in crime prevention, incidents of violence and abuse against colleagues are climbing. These figures make particularly grim reading as they came at the height of the pandemic when the ‘hidden heroes’ of retail were working tirelessly to look after customers, keep shelves stocked, and ensure orders were fulfilled,” Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said:

“Violence must never be a part of the job. Those retail colleagues affected are our parents, our partners, and our children, and they have suffered needlessly, just for doing their job. They can bear the emotional scars and carry the trauma for the rest of their lives.”

Earlier this year, the UK government introduced an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which created a statutory aggravating factor to assaults committed against those “providing a public service or performing a public duty”. Similarly, Scotland introduced a specific offence for violence and abuse against retail workers last year.

The BRC said it will now work with police and crime commissioners across England and Wales to raise awareness of the new aggravated offence and to advocate for retail crime having a higher priority in local policing strategies. It urged to ensure that more of these incidents are reported, so that the police have a true picture of the violence and abuse faced by retail workers.

“It is vital that the amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill helps to deter perpetrators, but this will require the police to take action and improve their response to incidents,” Dickinson added.