The UK government’s new Crime and Policing Bill, some months away yet, can’t come fast enough for UK retail workers. More than a quarter of them say they’ve experienced physical aggression or violence in their current jobs as high-street crime remains a big issue.
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More than 20% of retail workers in London alone to deal with an angry customer ‘every day’, according to research by Foot Anstey and seen by City AM.
“Retail crime has been spiralling out of control over the past few years, with incidents of violence and abuse climbing to over 2,000 per day,” Lucy Whing, crime policy adviser at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), also told the newspaper.
“It is unacceptable that [workers] should ever go to work fearing for their safety,” she added.
A recent Retail Trust’s ‘Respect Retail’ campaign found nearly two-thirds of retail workers felt stressed and anxious going into work last year due to this abuse.
Shoplifting offences are also on the rise, costing retailers £4.2 billion last year. This includes £2.2 billion from shoplifting itself and another £1.8 billion spent on crime prevention measures such as CCTV, more security personnel, anti-theft devices and body-worn cameras.
Meanwhile the new Crime and Policing Bill, which is now being read in the House of Lords after completing its reading in the House of Commons, “means the government is beginning to take retail crime and harassment seriously”, said Patrick Howarth, partner at Foot Anstey.
“We are hopeful the… Bill and new duties to prevent sexual harassment will continue this positive progress,” Howarth added.
