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More serial or abusive shoplifters face going to prison as the UK government seeks to slash soaring levels of theft and violence against retail workers.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that he would make assaulting a retail worker a standalone criminal offence in England and Wales, mirroring an existing law in Scotland.
Offenders could be sent to prison for up to six months, receive an unlimited fine and be banned from going back to the shop where they committed a crime under tougher punishments set out by the government.
Perpetrators could also be forced to wear tags to track their movements, while more live facial recognition technology would be deployed to catch suspects.
Sunak’s announcement comes after intense campaigning from retailers across the UK for more support as they have fought a surge in retail crime. Some companies have also warned that crime is squeezing profits.
Violence and abuse against staff rose to 1,300 incidents a day in the 12 months to the end of August 2023 up from almost 870 a day during the same period a year earlier, according to the British Retail Consortium, which represents more than 200 big companies in the UK.
In the same period the cost of theft doubled to £1.8bn, with more than 45,000 incidents a day.
Sunak said he was “sending a message to those criminals — whether they are serious organised criminal gangs, repeat offenders or opportunistic thieves — who think they can get away with stealing from these local businesses or abusing shopworkers, enough is enough”.
Retailers welcomed the announcement. BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “The impact of retail violence has steadily worsened . . . Victims are ordinary, hardworking people — teenagers taking on their first job, carers looking for part-time work, parents working around childcare.”
Paul Gerrard, campaigns and public affairs director at the Co-op, said the retailer would redouble its work with police forces “but these measures will undoubtedly, when implemented, keep our shop workers safer”.
In October, police and the government launched measures to tackle the rise in retail crime, known as the Retail Crime Action Plan.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said Labour had been “calling for tougher action . . . for more than 10 years”, adding that the government’s announcement was “just a pale imitation of Labour’s plans”.
Additional reporting by Lucy Fisher in London
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