The policing response ‘is simply failing to match the rising tide of violence and abuse against retail workers’, says the all-party Home Affairs Committee of MPs. In a report, the committee calls for a much stronger policing response, more support from employers and more prevention work on high streets.
The MPs also call on the Government to consult on the scope of a new stand-alone criminal offence to protect retail workers, as was passed early this year by the Holyrood Parliament to cover Scotland. Their report describes the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act, having undergone lengthy consultation and close scrutiny, as ‘a potential starting point’. The MPs complain that the legal framework is ‘too often failing’ to protect shop staff from abuse, to provide justice for victims or a deterrent for offenders, as prosecution rates are ‘vanishingly small’.
Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, the senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: “Everybody should be safe at work. Shop workers are the lifeblood of our local high streets and communities. During the Covid-19 pandemic, retail workers kept our communities going and they deserve our thanks and gratitude. It is even more shameful, then, that abuse and assaults against shop workers went up during the pandemic, and it is completely unacceptable that these attacks have become so commonplace in our society.
“Yet too often the police have not taken these crimes seriously enough and workers have been left to deal with the traumatic consequences alone. Those who abuse and assault shop workers must not be allowed to reoffend with impunity. Policing leaders must step up and make this a priority for local forces – with more neighbourhood police, clear plans to identify repeat offenders, respond to incidents swiftly and better record and understand patterns of local crimes.
“Other public workers have rightly been afforded extra protection by the law in recognition of the public service they provide and the increased risks they face, and a standalone offence for assault on emergency workers has produced promising early results in increasing prosecutions. Violence and abuse towards shop workers must be treated with the same seriousness and those workers must be afforded similar protection in law.”
For more of the report visit parliament.uk.
The committee heard from retail trade bodies such as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), the retail trade union Usdaw, and from retail, Iona Blake (Boots) and Paul Gerrard (the Co-operative), besides senior police officers. What they told the committee was featured in the June print edition of Professional Security magazine.
Among the report’s recommendations are an Employers Charter setting out how employers should support and protect staff – on the reporting of crimes, security measures, training, counselling, and banning prolific offenders – and that the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund should support measures on high streets [picture by Mark Rowe: Portishead, north Somerset].
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Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary complained that ‘despite overwhelming evidence’, the Government has continued to refuse to support a specific law to protect workers. He said: “So we are pleased that MPs will have the opportunity to vote on a protection of workers amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill on Monday [July 5].
“Usdaw is looking for a simple stand-alone offence that is easily understood, not just by the legal profession, but by the criminals who are assaulting, threatening and terrifying shop workers. A separate offence for assaulting a retail worker would encourage prosecutions and provide the deterrent effect that our members are desperately looking for. A clear message that violence against someone working to serve the public is not acceptable.
“When retail employers, leading retail bodies and the shop workers’ trade union jointly call for legislation, it is time for the Government and MPs to listen. In Scotland, MSPs voted through a new ground-breaking law to give shop workers the protection they deserve. We are now looking for MPs to support key workers across the retail sector and help turn around the UK Government’s opposition.”
Usdaw’s website has an ‘email your MP’ facility at: www.usdaw.org.uk/PCSCbill.
The ACS likewise has urged MPs to support new amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We welcome the amendments to the Bill which would deliver tougher penalties to offenders who attack shop workers and would urge MPs to support these amendments on Monday at the Report Stage of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
“The problem of violence and abuse against shop workers is getting worse and we need the Government to take urgent action to provide our colleagues with the support and protection that they so desperately need.”
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, welcomed the report and hoped that it would prompt the Government ‘to finally do what is necessary to protect retail staff from harm across the country and stop dragging its feet’. She said: “The report rightly acknowledges the scale of the issue, and we are pleased to see that it calls on Government to urgently consult on a new criminal offence. The BRC has been long calling for a new statutory offence for abusing, threatening or assaulting a shop worker. An offence would impose tougher penalties on perpetrators and send a clear message that these incidents will not be tolerated.
“Shop workers have suffered for far too long – according to our latest Crime Survey, violence and abuse is on the rise with over 450 incidents of violence and abuse every day, despite retailers spending record sums of £1.2 billion on crime prevention. Staff have been verbally and violently assaulted, as well as spat at and coughed on for challenging shoplifters, enforcing age-restricted sales and implementing coronavirus safety measures. Notwithstanding the evidence, the Government has repeatedly rejected numerous calls to protect shop workers through the creation of a specific offence.”
For more from the BRC, visit the BRC website.
For the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), the Sussex PCC Katy Bourne, said: “As the APCC lead on Business Crime, I am working with Government and partners to better understand the scale of shoplifting, abuse and violence against shop workers, as well as examining the reporting, recording and response from the police.
“As a member of the National Retail Crime Steering Group, PCCs are keen to hear the concerns of businesses and shop workers. Because the crimes businesses are facing are not victimless crimes, we must also ensure that victims of violence and abuse are supported accordingly. I am working on behalf of all PCCs to encourage consistent police recording of business crime so we can galvanise a national response as well as making it easier and worthwhile for businesses to report in the first place.
“We have to break the self-defeating loop of low reporting levels and missed opportunities to gather evidence and share intelligence on offenders. We have technology and capabilities but we need common platforms and quicker collaboration.
“PCCs need to pressure their Chief Constables to recognise the true cost of business crime beyond the value of goods that get stolen.”
The Home Office is expected to respond to the MPs in a couple of months.
