Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of violence against retail workers; and what action they are taking to address any increase.

According to the British Retail Consortium Crime Report 2026, there were around 590,000 incidents of violence and abuse in 2024-25, down 20% from 737,000 in 2023-24 but still higher than an estimated 475,000 in 2022-23.

The levels of violence and abuse towards retail workers are unacceptable. We are ensuring the right powers are in place to tackle this.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

This bespoke offence will send a clear signal to perpetrators that assaults on retail workers are unacceptable and won’t go unpunished. It will also ensure that assaults on retail workers are separately recorded so that we know the true scale of the problem, enabling the police to respond accordingly.