Retail staff and employers in Northern Ireland jointly call for shop worker protection law

Retail trade union Usdaw and the employers’ organisation Northern Ireland Retail Consortium (NIRC) have jointly written to Naomi Long, minister of justice, urging action to protect retail workers from violence and abuse, amid a huge increase in the number of incidents in recent years.

The call comes after the latest recorded crime statistics from the Police Service of Northern Ireland showed that shoplifting had more than doubled since the pandemic.

Usdaw and the NIRC are seeking Stormont support for a Scottish-style protection of shop workers’ law, which the new Labour government in Westminster included in last week’s King’s Speech, although that will only apply in England and Wales.

Usdaw’s latest annual survey of over 5,500 retail staff across the UK showed that 18 per cent of shop workers suffered a violent attack last year, compared to 8 per cent in 2022. Six in 10 respondents said that incidents of violence, threats and abuse they’d experienced were triggered by shoplifting or armed robbery.

The British Retail Consortium’s Crime Survey reports similar results, despite record spending on crime prevention by retailers.

“It is deeply disturbing for our members to see a doubling in theft from shops. Shoplifting has long been a major flashpoint for violence and abuse against shop workers. The case for a separate criminal offence for abusing or assaulting a retail worker is clear, with Usdaw’s survey showing that physical assaults are at an all-time high. We fear retail crime is in danger of becoming normalised if action is not taken,” Paddy Lillis, Usdaw general secretary said.

“A separate criminal offence will ensure greater visibility and awareness of the scale of the problem, prioritisation and resourcing from the police, certainty from courts and will send a clear message to members of the public that abuse and attacks against retail workers are wholly unacceptable. It will also allow the tracking of the data around cases as they progress through the criminal justice system.

“Retail workers in Scotland already have the protection of a separate, standalone criminal offence and now retail workers in England and Wales are set to have similar protections. Like the NIRC, we believe that there is a real danger that retail workers in Northern Ireland will get left behind. Together we strongly urge that legislation is introduced as soon as possible. When the retail trade union and retail employers come together, it should be time for politicians to sit up and listen.”

Neil Johnston, director, Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said: “It is imperative that the minister for justice, her colleagues on the Executive and indeed all members of the Assembly pause for a moment and consider the scale of the problem of assault on retail workers. Then they must act to legislate in a manner similar to the rest of the country. Our workers deserve the same protection as their colleagues in GB.”