Abuse of shopworkers continues to rise – more needs to be done

With Usdaw’s annual survey showing abuse against shopworkers is higher than pre-pandemic levels, it’s vital that government, retail employers, police and the courts work more closely together to make shops safer for staff.

Retail crime and abuse of retail workers continue to be growing problems that impact the industry, communities and our members. Usdaw has long campaigned, with the support of many retail employers, for legislation to tackle these issues. After years of being ignored, I am delighted that we now have a government that is acting and accepts that new legislation will only be the beginning of ensuring that retail workers are treated with the respect they deserve.

The Crime and Policing Bill will deliver a much-needed protection of retail workers’ law; end the indefensible £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters, which has effectively become an open invitation to criminals; along with introducing Respect Orders for repeat offenders.

Paddy Lillis: "We asked what employers could do to support their workers more. Topping the list is the call for a ban on offenders."

These are huge steps forward and represent delivery of the legislative aims of Usdaw’s ‘Freedom From Fear’ campaign, but it is by no means job done. Our latest annual survey shows that far too many retail workers are being abused, threatened and assaulted. We welcome the commitment Prime Minister Keir Starmer made that the Crime and Policing Bill is only the beginning, not the end, of tackling retail crime.

However, it is important that we work with employers to ensure that the retail industry takes full advantage of these new legislative measures.

Having won the Protection of Workers Act in Scotland in August 2021 and the Crime and Policing Bill in England and Wales, we are still focused on delivery of the Northern Ireland Executive’s promise of new legislation in Stormont, to ensure coverage across the whole of the UK.

Risks to delivery workers

Our survey does not cover staff who deliver to customers’ homes, but they are nonetheless retail workers. They quite often have more interactions with their customers than in-store colleagues, are responsible for delivering great customer service and are still required to undertake all statutory requirements around age-related sales.

Furthermore, despite significant safeguards, these workers are generally working on their own, away from their store base and at greater risk of violence and abuse. Unfortunately, all the significant causes of violence against in-store retail workers: theft, age-related sales requirements, stock unavailability, to name but a few, also impact delivery drivers. So, we are calling on home delivery drivers to be covered by new legal protections, as they are in Scotland.

Our 2024 survey has once again highlighted the hugely challenging and potentially dangerous environment shopworkers face when simply going about their job. The Government’s own figures back this up, highlighting the escalating crisis of retail crime, with shoplifting having more than doubled since the pandemic and risen by
20 per cent over the past year.

Employers are providing more body cameras, improved CCTV and panic alarms as part of their suite of preventative risk-control measures. To help reduce the significant under-reporting of incidents, some employers have introduced electronic reporting systems to make it easier to report incidents.

These measures are no silver bullet, and employers must do more to support staff by ensuring they are afforded the time to report incidents, they are provided with further support after the incident and that they report it to the police. It is also important that feedback is provided to workers after they report, so they know what has been done, and this will highlight to shopworkers that the employer will act.

Image: Usdaw / Freedom From Fear campaign 

The last Government launched Project Pegasus to tackle organised crime but, while we recognise the need for intelligent policing, there was no commitment to giving the police the resources needed to ensure high streets and shopping areas were regularly patrolled by uniformed officers or that incidents would receive a police response.
So, we welcome the new Government’s pledge to increase neighbourhood police officer numbers by 13,000 as part of its community policing guarantee, and funding to tackle the organised criminals responsible for the increase in shoplifting.

Promoting health and safety measures

In the coming year, the focus of Usdaw’s ‘Freedom From Fear’ campaign will shift from legislative solutions to promoting health and safety measures with employers. The industry is already losing £2.2 billion in stolen stock and £1.8 billion on crime prevention, which is a £4 million drain on businesses, and obviously results in higher prices for customers. Usdaw wants to see the burden of crime on business, staff and customers reduced, and we will work with employers to ensure that they take full advantage of the legislative gains we won together.

The purpose of a protection of workers law is for it to be a preventative measure, and that can only be achieved by promoting the law in workplaces and ensuring that it is clear that prosecutions will be pursued. So, we want to see signs in stores promoting respect, simpler reporting systems for staff and greater co-ordination with the police,
with the expectation they will be targeting patrols to retail settings and prosecuting retail crimes.

The retail industry was largely left to fend for itself in the midst of a crime epidemic; that is no longer the case as we see new legislation and additional resources for the police coming through. Usdaw will work with employers to help ensure that it provides the respect our members deserve.

2024 survey results

This latest Usdaw annual survey of retail workers and their experiences of violence, threats and abuse was largely conducted face-to-face in workplaces during the whole of 2024. Some responses have come from individuals completing an online version on the Usdaw website.

In 2003, Usdaw launched the ‘Freedom From Fear’ campaign in response to members’ concerns about increasing levels of violence and abuse. Since then, Usdaw has worked with the public, retail employers, the police and governments to protect retail workers.
Before Covid-19, levels of violence, threats and abuse were rising and through the pandemic, the situation became much worse. While levels have come down from that extraordinary peak, they remain higher than before the pandemic and are growing.

A significant factor in the high level of abuse faced by retail workers is theft from shops. Official statistics show that shoplifting has more than doubled since the pandemic and rose by 20 per cent during 2024. It is increasingly common for retail stores to be targeted by organised crime gangs stealing to order. This is in no way a victimless crime, with weapons and violence used to ensure these criminals are not stopped.

Having to deal with repeated and persistent offences can cause issues beyond the theft itself like anxiety, fear and physical harm to retail workers. 66 per cent of respondents had suffered incidents of violence, threats and abuse that were triggered by shoplifting and armed robbery.

Usdaw’s survey of 9,481 shopworkers found that in 2024 (% last year) [% in 2019]:

• 77 per cent were verbally abused (70%) [68%]
• 53 per cent were threatened (46%) [43%]
• 10 per cent were assaulted (18%) [5%]

Image: Usdaw / Freedom From Fear campaign 

Triggers for violence and abuse in 2024

Survey respondents were asked to answer a question by selecting triggers under the subheadings of shoplifting, enforcement, frustration and harassment.

Frustration of customers all too often ends up with an attack on a shopworker – the leading cause of customer frustration is short-staffing. Many respondents referred to retail staff being on the frontline when anything goes wrong or the customer feels they’ve been treated unfairly, even if it is company policy that is the issue.

Shoplifting increased significantly during 2024, with the police and employers both recording higher levels of incidents, and this is reflected in it being a major flashpoint for abuse of retail staff. Thieving to feed an addiction, and the cost-of-living crisis, are the main causes.

Enforcement of the law remains a considerable issue for our members – particularly alcohol sales and other age-restricted products. A key argument for a protection of retail workers law is that legislators passing laws should offer suitable protection for those who are enforcing them.

Harassment is relatively low among the whole sample, but the survey found that racial harassment among all non-white workers is 48 per cent and is slightly higher at 52 per cent for non-white women. One-third of women under 27 suffered sexism.

36 per cent of all respondents identified other issues, which included: lack of respect for staff, store closing times, displays obstructing aisles, having to do shelf replenishment while customers are in the store, customers fighting with each other, dealing with exchanges and returns, and enforcing company rules and policies.

What workers want

We asked what employers could do to support their workers more. Topping the list is the call for a ban on offenders, and the Government’s introduction of Respect Orders could go a long way towards delivering that. Many retail workers are frustrated that the theft from shops and abuse of staff are committed by the same people over and over again.

Security staff have long been popular with shopworkers; they provide reassurance and act as a deterrent in many instances. Many companies have sought to replace security guards with electronic measures like body-worn cameras and headsets that link individual workers to a central control for backup and support. While not as popular as a security guard presence, they are valued by staff.

Support from management and from police are highlighted in the survey, and both are crucial to whether workers report incidents. With nearly half of shopworkers not reporting incidents, including 13 per cent who were assaulted, there is a great deal to be done in raising confidence that it will make a difference. The Government is committed to an extra 13,000 uniformed police officers patrolling communities and shopping areas; it is our hope that this will help boost confidence in the system and put the police more in touch with retail crime.

Ten per cent of all respondents suggested other improvements, which included: signs in stores, ensuring young workers have full support, prosecuting offenders, protective screens around tills, giving staff time to recover from an incident, no lone working and not rewarding customers for being abusive.

Usdaw’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign seeks to prevnt violence, threats and abuse against workers by engaging the public, shopworkers and the Government. See: usdaw.org.uk/Campaigns/Freedom-From-Fear

Paddy Lillis is general secretary at Usdaw union