Shoplifting has been on the rise, a large proportion is linked to the cost-of-living crisis, but perhaps consequently, there has now been growing consensus that there are large organised criminal networks that are behind a huge proportion of the UK’s shoplifting epidemic. Retail workers are often at the forefront of a vicious criminal operation that seeks to exploit stores, USDAW’s (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) latest annual survey.
Of over 5,500 retail staff showed that 18% of shop workers suffered a violent attack compared to 8% in 2022. Further, six in 10 respondents stated that incidents of violence, threats and abuse were triggered by theft or armed robbery. This is not only a crisis in criminal financial gain, but it is also a crisis in anti-social behaviour, as those on the frontline are often intimidated by vested financial criminal interests.
Retail crime encompasses a variety of offences with accompanying legislation, this includes the Theft Act 1968, Criminal Justice Act 1988, Offences Against the Person Act 1861, and Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Shoplifting is notably a criminal offence under the Theft Act 1968, However, section 176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 reclassified theft from a shop of goods valued under £200 as “low-value shoplifting”, a summary-only offence with a maximum sentence of six months’ custody.[2]
Scale and impact of the problem
(Office for National Statistics, ‘Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables’, 24 October 2024, table A5a)
The ONS noted that this was the highest figure since current recording practices began for the year ending March 2003.
A report from the House of Lords noted from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), on the latest findings of its own crime survey.[1] There were 476,690 incidents of violence and abuse against retail workers in 2022/23, which averaged to 1,306 incidents per day. Most strikingly, there has been a significant increase in abuse, 434,715 incidents recorded in 2022/24, averaging 1,191 a day, an increase form 341 a day in 2019/20.
The impact is large, not only for the humans on the other side of intimidation and violence, but also for businesses and consequently communities. The BRC reported that the cost of this retail crime, which includes crime prevention measures, amounted to a shocking figure of £3.3billion (1 September 2022 to 31 August 2024). This is noted as a £1.5billion increase compared to the previous reported year.[2]
The operations of organised crime
A groundbreaking documentary was released last week by Channel 4, going undercover to expose the criminal networks that are behind the UK’s shoplifting epidemic. What was found was striking, a growing hub of gangs that shop to order, and use hubs such as those shown in the documentary in Northampton, to distribute stolen goods to distributors for sale across the world.
Matt Shea, the presenter of the programme noted upon his visit to a car-boot sale in Romford:
“Many of the vendors I speak to become suspicious when I ask them where their brand new, off-the-shelf items came from,” said Shea, but just when you were rolling your eyes at how badly he was going about this, a seller cheerily volunteered the information: “I get them so cheap because they’re stolen.”
Paul Gerrard, the public affairs director at the Co-op, told the House of Lords justice and home affairs committee earlier this year at an evidence hearing, that a 44% rise in retail crime it experienced was mostly due to gangs stealing for order. [3]
He said:
“There have always been people who steal to make ends meet … and you could argue that happens more in a cost of living crisis,” he said. “But that is not what is driving the 44% increase.
“What is driving it is people stealing to order, people coming into store with wheelie bins or a builder’s bag to steal the entire confectionery section or spirits or meat section.
“If one of my colleagues gets in the way they won’t say sorry and walk out, there will be a violent threat; it might be a knife or might be a syringe. I’ve had colleagues attacked with a medieval mace. We’ve had colleagues lose their eye or colleagues miscarry. This is a level of violence, abuse and threat that nobody in retail has ever seen before.”
The Justice and Home Affairs Committee has conducted an inquiry into this growing problem, it was found there are almost 17 million incidents of shop theft annually, with few leading to an arrest and costing the retail sector almost £2 billion last year. This has evolved from individualised offending to relentless, large-scale, organised operations accompanied by unprecedented levels of violence.[4] The reality is, that shop theft is now seen as a lucrative profit-making opportunity, exploited by organised crime.
Other gangs, such as that reported by the BBC in October of this year, operate in groups of three, using Bluetooth headsets to communicate and warn each other when security guards are watching them.
“It’s like a mafia-style operation. It’s run like a business,” says Sarah Bird from the National Business Crime Solution (NBCS) - an organisation which works with 100 businesses to tackle retail crime.[5]
Project Pegasus, an operation focused on information sharing in the National Police Chief Council (NPCC) focused on serious organised shoplifting. As a result of this operation, 60 arrests have been made under the operation in 4 months, which is reportedly impacting organise crime which account for £3.4 million of loss.
Policy Measures: Criminal Justice Bill
One of the key Policy measures from the Labour Government has been the criminal justice Bill, with the Criminal Justice Bill, the Uk Home office has announced measures to crack down on retail crime following growing reports of theft and violence. Most importantly, earlier this year under the previous government, it was announced that assaulting a shop working will be made a separate criminal offence in England and Wales. This is an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, the Bill is currently in the Report Stage and can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3511
The other point of contention is the theft of goods worth up to £200 can currently be dealt with though a fixed penalty notice, rather than a full prosecution. USDAW has claimed that the effect of this has been to give an “open invitation to steal from stores”.[6]
Recently, the crime and police minister has unveiled the government’s plan to reverse the current £200 threshold in its shoplifting charter, to better tackle retail crime. Speaking at the Co-operative party’s retail crime summit in London today (12 November), policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said the current government is to remove the 2014 shoplifting legislation, which makes shop theft involving property with a value of £200 or less a summary-only offence.[7] Dame Johnson also corroborated the need for the law on assaults on shopworkers, remarking that the UK was “long overdue a change”.
There are no easy fixes, the organised crime networks have found themselves embedded in our distribution networks as a result of a rise in the cost of living, and the ensuing chaos. What is more worrying, is that where organised crime resides, violence and intimidation follows suit. While there are policy proposals taking place through government, we of course support an open dialogue on these issues, and hope for better treatment for retail workers, and the public who are often blighted by these issues.
[1] https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/retail-crime-impact-on-workers-the-community-and-local-economies/#fn-7
[2] https://brc.org.uk/media/jrggbwvq/brc-crime-survey-report-2024.pdf
[3] https://committees.parliament.uk/event/21903/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/
[4] https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/519/justice-and-home-affairs-committee/news/203576/unacceptable-levels-of-shop-theft-causing-serious-harm-to-society/
[5] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czxdr29lyggo#:~:text=The%20champagne%20gang%20originates%20from,to%20serve%20a%20new%20demand.
[6] https://www.talkingretail.com/news/industry-news/government-urged-to-support-criminal-justice-bill-amendments-10-05-2024/
[7] https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2024/11/12/government-axe-shoplifting-200/
