Retail crime ‘spirals out of control’ with 2,000 violence and abuse incidents a day

Retail crime in the UK is “spiralling out of control” at more than 2,000 incidents a day, according to the latest figures.

And in Northern Ireland, there were 9,000 incidents in December alone (290 a day), with theft now costing retailers more than £1 million a week.

Incidents including racial and sexual abuse, physical assault and threats with weapons have reached three times the level they were in 2020, when there were 455 incidents a day across the UK, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Annual Crime Survey shows.

Over the last year, there were 70 incidents a day which involved a weapon - more than double the previous year.

Low carbon Belfast aparthotel room2 goes on market for £21.2m

Spanish takeover of Belfast shipyard promises hundreds of jobs and ‘something extraordinary’

Some 61% of respondents described the police response to incidents as “poor” or “very poor”, although 3% described it as “excellent” - the first time in five years that any retailers have rated it as such.

Theft also reached an all-time high with more than 20 million incidents - or over 55,000 a day - costing retailers £2.2 billion, up from £1.8 billion the previous year.

Gangs systematically targeted stores across the country, stealing tens of thousands of pounds worth of goods and rotating around multiple stores, the BRC’s survey found.

The amount spent on crime prevention is also at a record high, with retailers investing £1.8 billion on measures such as CCTV, more security personnel, anti-theft devices and body worn cameras, up from £1.2 billion the previous year.

The total cost of crime reached £4.2 billion, up from £3.3 billion, limiting investment and “pushing up prices for customers everywhere”, the BRC warned.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Retail crime is spiralling out of control. People in retail have been spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes.

“Every day this continues, criminals are getting bolder and more aggressive. We owe it to the three million hard-working people working in retail to bring the epidemic of crime to heel. No one should go to work in fear.

“With little faith in police attendance, it is no wonder criminals feel they have licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse.”

In Northern Ireland, PSNI crime figures published in December showed that shoplifting locally reached its highest level ever in 2023/24 with nearly 9,000 recorded incidents.

And theft is now costing Northern Ireland retailers over £60 million a year; which leads to customers having to face both higher prices and more inconvenient shopping as retailers have to mitigate the costs and shrinkage resulting from this criminal behaviour.

Neil Johnston, director of the NI Retail Consortium, said: “Violence and abuse have also ballooned, rising over 50% in the past year and 340% since 2020. Again, this tallies with PSNI crime figures which showed the offence of ‘violence without injury’ reaching a peak in 2022/23 but thankfully falling back a touch more recently. Many of these offences involve retail or hospitality staff.

“Northern Ireland is actually a low crime region and the PSNI can point to decreasing crime levels in many areas, sadly however the blackspots are shoplifting and violence without injury. It’s not acceptable that retail staff in Northern Ireland have to operate in this climate of fear.

“A greater effort is needed across the criminal justice system to get this situation under control and protect workers and customers. Following our representations, Justice Minister Naomi Long has said she wants to introduce a new offence of assault of public facing workers.

“We welcome this and hope that the NI Executive and Assembly move swiftly to implement it.”