Retail crime in Britain has reached its highest level on record, and the shops bearing it have run out of patience. The British Retail Consortium's Annual Crime Survey, published in January 2025, found more than 20 million incidents of theft in 2023/24 — over 55,000 a day — costing retailers £2.2 billion, up from £1.8 billion the year before. Violence and abuse against shop workers climbed to more than 2,000 incidents a day, up from 1,300 the year before and more than three times the 455 a day recorded in 2020. Seventy of those daily incidents involved a weapon, more than double the previous year.
"Retail crime is spiralling out of control. People in retail have been spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes," said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, when the survey was published. "Every day this continues, criminals are getting bolder and more aggressive. We owe it to the three million hardworking people working in retail to bring the epidemic of crime to heel. No one should go to work in fear."
The official police figures tell the same story from the other side. The Office for National Statistics reported in July 2025 that police in England and Wales recorded 530,643 shoplifting offences in the year ending March 2025 — up 20% on the previous year and the highest figure since current recording practices began in the year ending March 2003.
The cost behind the till
Retailers spent a record £1.8 billion on crime prevention in 2023/24 — CCTV, more security staff, anti-theft devices and body-worn cameras — up from £1.2 billion the year before. Together with other crime costs, the total cost of retail crime reached £4.2 billion, up from £3.3 billion. The BRC warns that the bill limits investment and pushes up prices for customers everywhere.
When a shop loses stock repeatedly, its margins are squeezed and its ability to invest, employ local people and keep prices steady is weakened. When staff face abuse or threats, recruitment becomes harder and morale falls. "Almost half of the retail workers we've surveyed told us they currently fear for their safety and nearly two thirds are stressed and anxious going to work," said Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of retail industry charity the Retail Trust, in the BRC's January 2025 release. And when shoppers begin to feel that a town centre is unsafe or unwelcoming, they may choose to shop elsewhere, which hurts every business in the area. In the BRC survey, 61% of retailers described the police response to incidents as "poor" or "very poor".
What the new law does
The government has answered with legislation. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. It creates a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker, carrying a maximum penalty of six months in prison and an unlimited fine, and it repeals the rule that treated shop theft of goods worth £200 or less as a low-level, summary-only offence — the provision retailers called a "licence to steal". All shop theft will now be treated as general theft, triable either way, with a maximum custodial sentence of seven years.
"This government's Crime and Policing Act represents a true reset in policy, giving retailers significantly bolstered protections," said Sarah Jones, the minister for crime and policing, when the Act became law. "By removing the so-called £200 'licence to steal', we will ensure that shop theft is no longer a 'summary-only' offence heard at a magistrates' court with minimal punishment."
But the law on the statute book is not yet the law on the shop floor. In October 2026, almost six months after Royal Assent, the retail protections had still not come into force, and the Home Office could not confirm when they would. That delay is now the trade's sharpest complaint: the measures retailers campaigned years for exist in law but cannot yet be used.
Three patterns shops recognise
The three patterns below are illustrative — composites drawn from what retailers and trade bodies describe, not reports of specific incidents at named shops. They are included because they show why the same crime needs different responses.
The repeat visitor. The pattern every independent shopkeeper recognises first, because it feels personal. Spirits, razor blades and meat are among the most commonly targeted items, because they are small, valuable and easy to sell on. The same person comes in two or three times a week, taking the same items, while the one member of staff on duty has to decide whether to challenge them alone or let it go. What makes this pattern hard is not a single theft but the repetition: a log showing the same person three times in a fortnight is evidence of a repeat offender, and it is what a police neighbourhood team can actually work with. That is why the incident log matters more than any single report: date, time, what was taken, a description, and whether CCTV captured it, plus a crime reference number asked for at every report.
The organised group. Organised groups target particular goods that can be sold on quickly, working across several shops rather than returning to one. The BRC survey found many more incidents are linked to organised crime, with gangs systematically targeting stores across the country, stealing tens of thousands of pounds worth of goods and rotating around multiple stores. No single shop can answer this pattern alone, which is why the joining-up matters. In many town centres that joining-up already has a name: a Shopwatch scheme or a Business Crime Reduction Partnership, run through the local Business Improvement District, where shops share descriptions and CCTV stills of repeat offenders and agree to ban them from member stores.
The town centre that loses its bargain. Town centres depend on a simple bargain: people come because they feel welcome, safe and able to find what they need. When that bargain breaks down, footfall falls and the whole area suffers. Empty shops make the problem worse: a boarded-up unit signals that an area is struggling, which discourages new businesses from opening. Local councils and business groups have a role in keeping town centres attractive — clean streets, good lighting, well-maintained public spaces — but shopkeepers argue that such efforts will only go so far if the underlying problem of theft is not tackled.
What to watch now
The test is local and checkable: whether the new standalone offence is brought into force and used, whether police respond to reported incidents, and whether repeat offenders face consequences that stop the pattern.
And the warning underneath all of it is about safety, not just stock. If you see a theft in progress, do not intervene yourself — note a description and tell a member of staff, who can report it through the proper channels. Report a theft that is not in progress to the police on 101 or through the police force's online reporting form, and call 999 if an offender is in the store and threatening staff. Keep the incident log and ask for a crime reference number for every report.