Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many crimes involving (a) violence or (b) abuse against retail employees committed while they were at work have been reported to the police in the years 2020-21 and 2021-22.

The information requested on the number of crimes of violence or abuse against retail employees is not held centrally by the Home Office. However, estimates from the 2021 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) offer valuable evidence in this area, indicating that 14% of premises in the Wholesale and Retail business sector experienced assaults and threats, robbery, or both in the year ending March 2021; equivalent to 53,000 premises.

Partnership working between the police and businesses is vital to ensuring an effective response to retail crimes. The Home Office is encouraging closer local partnerships between police and business, for example through Business Crime Reduction Partnerships to help local police understand the issues in a local area and determine an appropriate response. We also encourage the use of Victim and Business Impact Statements to help the police understand how a crime has affected the victim.

The Government has also taken action to tackle violence and abuse against retail workers and other public-facing workers by introducing a statutory aggravating factor via the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This will mean that the public facing nature of the victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty, or providing a service to the public. The provision commenced on 28 June.