Pensioners: Shoplifting

Debate between Lord Sikka and Lord Hanson of Flint

Thursday 15th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sikka]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address the reported increase in shoplifting by pensioners.

[The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Hanson of Flint) (Lab)]

My Lords, all shop theft is unacceptable, and we are taking action to drive down retail crime. However, there is no official data to give an accurate assessment of the age of those who commit shop theft. Today—as we speak—the Home Office is once again hosting the Retail Crime Forum, which brings together representatives from the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement agencies.

[Lord Sikka (Lab)]

My Lords, poverty is a major cause of shoplifting. The full state pension of £11,973 is less than 50% of the minimum wage and is received by less than 30% of pensioners. Despite benefits, 2 million pensioners live in poverty, and over 100,000 a year die in fuel poverty. The loss of the winter fuel payment, unchecked profiteering and frozen income tax allowances will only worsen matters. The Minister has the power to reduce pensioner poverty by aligning the state pension with the living wage. When will he do that?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The survey that has generated this Question was undertaken by one security firm, which found that only 5% of “pensioners” were undertaking shop theft. It defined “pensioners” as people aged over 50. It was complete, false nonsense, so before we go any further, let us just kill right now the argument that pensioners are a particular focus for shop theft. They are not. It is criminal organised gangs and that is where the Government are focused.

My noble friend mentioned a range of issues to do with challenges that pensioners face. We are protecting the poorest pensioners through the winter fuel allowance, ensuring that we can maintain the triple lock, and supporting pensioners generally. Even with all those measures, it is not acceptable for anybody to walk into a shop and steal something off the shelf, because that is a criminal act and it ensures costs go up for everybody else, including pensioners who obey the law. It is not acceptable, and I hope that we can focus in the Crime and Policing Bill on how we tackle shop theft as a whole.

Respect Orders and Anti-social Behaviour

Debate between Lord Sikka and Lord Hanson of Flint

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord for his question. I want to get to the exact wording correct. With the respect order particularly, it does not have to be criminal behaviour. It can be behaviour that potentially causes alarm, distress or harassment. Again, I say to the House that those matters will be tested as we go through Committee. There will be opportunities to clarify what that means and put down some legal guidelines during Committee in this House. The idea of the respect order is to tackle what I would term low-level anti-social behaviour. If criminal actions have been taken, criminal sanctions are available to police to make arrests accordingly. I hope we can reflect on that during Committee.

[Lord Sikka (Lab)]

My Lords, it will take more than an authoritarian approach to tackle anti-social behaviour. Public spaces for socialising and supporting people have shrunk as hundreds of youth clubs, community centres, libraries and adult education courses have completely disappeared. What is the Government’s programme for restoring such public spaces and creating a sense of community and belonging?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

This is extremely important. It goes slightly wider than my brief in the Home Office. We end up with the criminal justice end of the business. But my noble friend makes an extremely important point. It is important that we give support to communities through other government departments to address open spaces, play areas, youth clubs and other distractions. One of the other activities that the Government are undertaking is trying to invest in those areas over the next 12 months. But, specifically, my end of the business is when that does not work.