The new law passed by the Scottish government last year to protect shop workers against retailer crime has encouraged retailers to report more incidents of abuse and assault. As per the figures from the Scottish Business Resilience Centre around 300 incidents of abuse or threats were reported to police in the first three months of the new law in Scotland.
The protection of worker act came into force in August 2021. The act of the Scottish Parliament was designed to create an offence of assaulting, threatening, or abusing retail workers; and to provide for a statutory aggravation of that offence where the retail worker is enforcing a statutory age restriction.
Usdaw General Secretary Paddy Lillis says, “Usdaw’s message to members has long been ‘Report it to sort it’, so we welcome that the new law in Scotland is encouraging reporting. However, it is a disgrace that retail staff are still suffering too many incidents of violence, threats, and abuse from a significant minority of customers and we continue to urge the shopping public to respect shopworkers.
“Retail staff have been on the frontline throughout the coronavirus crisis, helping to keep our communities fed, despite the risks of contracting the virus. It has been a terrible year for our members, with over 90% of shopworkers suffering abuse, more than two-thirds threatened, and one in seven assaulted. We are saying loud and clear that enough is enough, abuse should never be part of the job.
“We need the Scottish Government, police, and retailers to continue to promote the new law. We want the public to understand that assaulting and abusing shopworkers is totally unacceptable and will land them stiffer penalties. The protection of shopworkers legislation in Scotland should result in retail staff getting the respect they deserve.”
iStock image
However, the successful enforcement of the new law in Scotland has set an example for the rest of the government to come up with a stringent law against retail crime.
In October 2021, in the House of Lords, Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Coaker tabled amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill aimed at giving retailers in England and Wales similar legal protection as retailers receive in Scotland, where attacking a shop worker is now an “aggravated” offense.
Trade bodies like the Association of Convenience Store (ACS), the British Retail Consortium (BRC), and others have been campaigning to raise awareness for some time and have worked with parliamentarians to shape legislation that would offer better protection in law for retail workers.
On 14th December the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill had a Report Stage sitting, where an amendment addressing abuse towards public facing workers was considered. Amendment 84, proposed by Government Minister Baroness Williams of Trafford, proposed to introduce an aggravated offence for attacking an individual serving the public. This amendment went to a vote and was accepted by the house.
This means that those who commit violent offences against retail staff are one step closer to receiving tougher sentences for their crimes. The amendment stipulates that the courts must treat assaults committed “against a person providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing services to the public” can be treated as an aggravating factor.
In response, Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive of BRC had said in a press release, “We welcome the Government’s move to ensure that those who commit violent offences against retail workers receive tougher sentences for their crimes. The Government has demonstrated that it understands the scale of violence and abuse that our colleagues face, and that it will act to protect them. Crime against retail staff has been rising year on year, and nobody should go to work fearing their safety. The BRC will continue to campaign on behalf of the three million retail colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure we all have access to the food and goods we need.”
ACS chief executive James Lowman commented, “After many years of campaigning we are pleased the government has introduced tougher penalties for attacks on shopworkers. This sends a much-needed signal to our colleagues that violence and abuse will not be tolerated.”
iStock image
However, only a law cannot protect retailers against retail crime, more police force and quick responses from the police are equally important. Sunita Aggarwal, Director at Spar in Wigston, Leicestershire says, “It (retail crime) has a major impact on the store. It leaves staff feeling vulnerable and isolated as there is not much help or support out there for them. It is not seen as a priority by the police. The police response on retail crime is very poor and this creates low morale for the retailers and staff.”
She adds, “The government can play their role by offering more support to retailers, possibly with a higher presence of community support officers. There should be a simpler and more effective process of prosecuting. We need to have direct contact with the police to help us to prevent the ongoing problem of retail crime. If we had a stronger relationship with the police and access to information on offenders, we could work together to prevent the incidents from happening.”
ACS said, “We still need more resources for police forces to focus on neighbourhood policing and delivery of the drug rehabilitation strategy to reduce acquisitive crime that often leads to violence in local shops.”
Most of the retailers are not satisfied with the police response. According to BRC’s retail crime report 2021, 60 per cent of retailers rated the ‘police response positively’ as poor or very poor with only 40 per cent rating it good or fair.
Most of the independent stores face so-called ‘low-level’ crimes like theft and verbal abuses which are not even reported to police on regular basis. The BRC report says that only 54 per cent of the crime of violence and abuse are reported by retailers. To tackle the ‘low-level’ retail crime faced by independent stores and to help the government by providing accurate statistic on the retail crime for more stringent law retailers must report all sorts of crime committed in their stores.
The Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021states:
It is an offence for a person to assault, threaten or abuse another person who is a retail worker and who is engaged at the time in the retail work.
A person who commits an offence is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine or both
Evidence from a single source is sufficient to prove the offence
If a person behaves in threatening or abusive manner towards the worker and intends by behaviour to cause the worker to fear or harm then the person is liable for punishment under the law
As per section 4 of the act, the person is punished if the complaint is aggravated by reason of the retail worker's enforcement of a statutory age restriction.
Timeline of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill:
June 2021: Shadow Policing Minister proposes an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill that would introduce a new offence for abusing a shopworker.
June 2021: Government rejects amendment to PCSC Bill, stating that existing legislation is adequate to deal with violence and abuse. Suggests that employers need to do more to increase reporting levels.
June 2021: Home Affairs Select Committee, led by Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, publishes report on violence and abuse against retailers, calling for urgent action to address the problem. Recommendations include a new offence for attacking shopworkers, and a more formal response to incidents from police.
September 2021: Home Office responds the Home Affairs Select Committee report
November 2021: Amendments to the PCSC Bill related to attacks against shopworkers were debated and withdrawn.
December 2021: Amendment proposing to introduce an aggravated offence for attacking an individual serving the public was put to a vote and accepted by the house.
Local shops will face significant new pressures as a result of today’s Budget, the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has warned.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves' budget's impact will be felt unevenly across the UK’s 50,000 convenience stores, with some measures such as business rate relief and the increased employment allowance mitigating costs for smaller independent stores, while providing no help for chains and larger independent businesses.
The key measures for local shops announced by the Chancellor, and the costs for local shops associated with them, are:
National Living Wage to increase to £12.21 per hour
National Minimum Wage (18-20 rate) to increase to £10 per hour
Cost to the convenience sector next year: £7.739bn (increase of £513m)
Employers’ National Insurance Contributions to rise to 15 per cent
Threshold for Employers’ National Insurance contributions to fall to £5,000 per year
Employment Allowance to rise to £10,500 a year
Cost to the convenience sector next year: £397m (increase of £85m)
Retail and hospitality rate relief reduced from 75 per cent to 40 per cent
Small business multiplier frozen for 2025/26
Cost to the convenience sector: £267m (increase of £68m)
Total cost of main announcements (year-on-year difference): £666m
ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “The cold hard facts are that the measures announced in the past 24 hours have added two-thirds of a billion pounds to the direct cost base of the UK’s local shops. At a time when trade is tough and operating costs are stubbornly high, this will be challenging for our members to absorb and there will be some casualties on high streets and in villages and estates across the country.
“Not all shops will be impacted the same. The smallest retailers, with low NICs bills and lower rateable values for their shops, will benefit from the welcome increase in the employment allowance and the retention of 40% of the retail, hospitality and leisure business rates relief. Retailers with a larger store, a number of sites or those operating a chain will receive limited benefit from these mitigations, and this will impact their ability to invest and to continue to offer services in the communities they serve.
The following additional measures were announced by the Chancellor in the Budget speech today:
Flat rate levy on vaping liquids from October 2026 of £2.20 per 10ml
Fuel duty frozen and the 5p cut extended for another year
A new commitment to tackling shop theft and funding directed to tackling organised gangs
Lowman continued: “The Chancellor’s commitment to tackling shop theft will be warmly welcomed by our members, but they are interested only in action and in crime against their stores and their colleagues being tackled effectively. We stand ready to help implement a new, and better-funded strategy to stop shop theft, abuse and violence against our members.”
Parliament is to launch an inquiry into delays in compensation settlements for sub postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal.
The newly-formed Business and Trade Select Committee will call ministers, subpostmasters and their lawyers to give evidence next week with a second session to follow in mid-November. The Committee’s chair, Liam Byrne MP told ITV News that there was “definitely a delay” in people coming forward for payment.
“What we’re hearing from subpostmasters is that if there is an argument about how much should be paid out, the first offer is made quite quickly but if there’s a negotiation, that negotiation is dragging.
“We on the committee are going to batter away at this, week in, week out, until it is job done. All of us on our committee are frankly horrified and outraged by how long this has taken and we’re just not going to give up, ” he said.
Sir Alan Bates, the Post Office campaigner and chair of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, is expected to be invited to give evidence. Earlier this month, Sir Alan states that his own claim had not been addressed and that he had written to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer asking for his intervention.
“Like many of the groups, my claim has not been completed. It’s ridiculous. I am one of just many in this position. This is why I wrote to the Prime Minister at the start of October, asking that he instruct the department to ensure that all claims – and I’m talking about in the GLO group, the original 555 – have been completed by March next year," he said.
This comes weeks after the Post Office's outgoing CEO agreed the government is using the company as a "shield" over compensation schemes. Nick Read, who resigned last month, was giving evidence at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry for the second day, with a focus on delays to victims' financial redress.
He also admitted that the compensation process has been "overly bureaucratic" and expressed "deep regret" that the Post Office had not lived up to delivering "speedy and fair redress".
Keep ReadingShow less
Bacup Wine and Convenience shop, 34 Burnley Road, Bacup.
A Rossendale shop has had a licence bid rejected after repeatedly selling vapes to children and having illegal products on its premises.
Management at the Ibra Superstore at 34 Burnley Road, Bacup, have shown ‘no regard’ for children’s protection and safety, and have insufficient controls for licensing, Rossendale councillors have ruled.
Ibrahim Mohammad, director of the Ibra Superstore, had recently applied to Rossendale Council for a new premises licence. But the borough’s licensing sub-committee rejected his bid after a meeting which heard allegations from the police and trading standards officers.
The Burnley Road shop has been subject to various licensing changes and concerns in recent years. In the past, it was called Bacup Wines.
Ibrahim Mohammad, the applicant, attended the Rossendale licensing sub-committe meeting with his father,Amin Mohammad. Also there was PC Mick Jones, of Lancashire Constabulary, and Jason Middleton of Lancashire Trading Standards. Councillor Bob Bauld attended as an observer.
Mr Mohammad wanted a premises license for alcohol sales and opening hours from 8am to 11pm, seven days a week. He already had a personal licence. He said the Bacup shop would install a CCTV system, keep an incident log and a refusals record, check customers’ ages, display information about staff and give them regular training.
Trading standards officer Jason Middleton said Ibra Superstore Ltd was incorporated as a company in April 2023. Since then, trading standards had received 11 complaints about under-age sales and carried out visits.
Breaches included non-compliant vapes being found which broke a 2ml limit on the quantity of nicotine-containing liquid, no age checks and no information on display.
During one visit, Amin Mohammad tried to leave with a bag containing 10 illegal vapes. In test purchases by trading standards, an ‘Elf Bar’ vape was sold to a 14-year-old by Amin Mohammad and an illegal Hayati Pro Max vape to a 13-year-old by Ibrahim Mohammad. The shop claimed a phone call distracted staff during the 13-year-old’s purchase and illegal vapes came from ‘a man in car’.
Councillors heard different speakers, looked at written reports and also some video footage from the applicant. But they rejected the premises licence bid.
Giving their reasons, they stated: “There was a repeated history and pattern of behaviour regarding under-age sales of age-restricted items, such as tobacco products and vapes to children. You must not sell vapes to anyone under the age of 18. This is a criminal offence which the council takes very seriously.
“It is clear you breached the law by failing a test purchase operation in which you sold an illegal vape to an under-age child. The sub-committee feels that you have no regard to the protection and safety of children.
“The sub-committee feels that there is insufficient management control at the premises. There is no credible system to prevent under-age sales of age-restricted products and no measures in place to avoid harm to children and to prevent crime and disorder
“Therefore, given the number of incidents, the circumstances surrounding the incidents and the fact that the matter involves safeguarding issues relating to young, vulnerable minors, we consider that the seriousness of the incidents and the crimes committed against young children undermines the licensing objectives to prevent crime and disorder, and protect children from harm.”
The shop has the right of appeal to a magistrates court within 21 days of the date of the notice.
SPAR North of England retailer Dara Singh Randhawa’s family store has been awarded £100,000 of free stock after hitting all his targets since moving to the symbol.
Dara and his family, who have their SPAR store in Patrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, joined SPAR through its association with James Hall & Co. Ltd in August 2023 having taken the decision to maximise the store’s potential.
It is a decision they have not looked back on, with sales increasing by up to 25% and margins also showing significant uplift in the last 12 months.
Key to the store’s improved performance is the complete overhaul of products available in-store, particularly the fresh food range, to better support people who live in Patrington and the surrounding area.
A new store layout and refrigeration, better Food To Go and meal deal options, a coffee machine, and a Calippo slush machine were also installed during a major refurbishment prior to launch.
Dara said: “Our move to SPAR has been excellent. We have seen fantastic sales uplift and the support from the team at James Hall & Co. Ltd has been brilliant. The £100,000 of free stock is the cherry on the cake.
“We have been very impressed with the Price Locked promotions, in particular. These give customers confidence to do bigger shops with us as they see value on our shelves and the products at the same prices for longer.
“At times over the summer when tourists and visitors to the area add trade, we have seen sales £6,000 a week higher than our average. This is against a backdrop of the popular caravan park in the village being closed almost all year.
“We are really pleased with the position we are in, and we will be looking to achieve more in 2025.”
Peter Dodding, Sales Director at James Hall & Co. Ltd and Chairman of the SPAR Northern Guild, said: “Congratulations to Dara and the Randhawa family on hitting their targets and earning £100,000 of free stock.
“We recognise switching brand is a big decision for a retailer which is why this isn’t a gimmick, and we offer this to all retailers who join the SPAR family with James Hall & Co. Ltd.
“As well as our £100,000 incentive, we also offer retailers the chance to achieve up to an additional £5,000 of free stock if they successfully refer a friend.
“These opportunities provide additional motivation to retailers alongside the comprehensive benefits that joining the SPAR brand brings with it.”
James Hall & Co. Ltd is a fifth-generation family business which serves a network of independent SPAR retailers and company-owned SPAR stores across Northern England six days a week from its base at Bowland View in Preston.
The government has on Wednesday announced its acceptance of the Low Pay Commission’s (LPC) recommendations on the rates of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), including the National Living Wage (NLW).
The rates which will apply from 1 April 2025 are as follows:
NMW Rate
Increase (£)
Percentage increase
National Living Wage (21 and over)
£12.21
£0.77
6.7
18-20 Year Old Rate
£10.00
£1.40
16.3
16-17 Year Old Rate
£7.55
£1.15
18.0
Apprentice Rate
£7.55
£1.15
18.0
Accommodation Offset
£10.66
£0.67
6.7
The recommended NLW rate is expected to equal two-thirds of median earnings and to have the highest real value in the history of the UK’s minimum wage. The increase in the 18-20 Year Old Rate narrows the gap between that and the NLW, in anticipation of the adult rate being extended to 18 year olds in future years.
“The government have been clear about their ambitions for the National Minimum Wage and its importance in supporting workers’ living standards. At the same time, employers have had to deal with the adult rate rising over 20 per cent in two years, and the challenges that has created alongside other pressures to their cost base,” Baroness Philippa Stroud, chair of the LPC, said.
“It is our job to balance these considerations, ensuring the NLW provides a fair wage for the lowest-paid workers while taking account of economic factors. These rates secure a real-terms pay increase for the lowest-paid workers. Young workers will see substantial increases in their pay floor, making up some of the ground lost against the adult rate over time.”
Stroud admitted that the data show some signs of employers finding it harder to adapt to minimum wage increases.
“The tightening of the labour market since the pandemic has unwound, but the overall picture is similar to 2019. The economy is expected to grow over the next year, although productivity growth remains subdued,” she noted.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:
Good work and fair wages are in the interest of British business as much as British workers. This government is changing people’s lives for the better because we know that investing in the workforce leads to better productivity, better resilience and ultimately a stronger economy primed for growth.
The recommended increase in the 16-17 Year Old Rate restores that rate to its original value relative to the adult minimum wage. In line with previous recommendations, the Apprentice Rate will remain equal to the 16-17 Year Old Rate.