NFRN reiterates demand for tougher laws to protect shop workers

The UK government is failing to adequately protect victims of retail crime by not introducing tougher laws, the Federation of Independent Retailers (NFRN) has said.

In its submission to a call for evidence by the Home Affairs Select Committee, NFRN noted that increasing verbal and physical attacks on retailers and their staff have reached “unacceptably high levels,” particularly during the Covid pandemic.

“Our members work in their stores from early in the morning until late in the evening, often with only one or two members of staff on duty, and, lacking the security back up that would be found in larger stores, they are extremely vulnerable to those who would rob the store or attack staff,” Stuart Reddish, NFRN national president, commented.

“Retail crime, be it in the form of shop theft or in the targeting of threats and violence against retail staff, has become an all too familiar part of the working day of many, if not most, retailers.”

Reddish said retailers have come to have little faith in the police to protect them. He added: “The level of police response, or in too many cases the perceived absence of a response, has seriously undermined retailers’ confidence in the system.

“The criminal justice system has failed to send the right messages through the use of out of court disposals – seen by retailers as being on a par with a parking ticket – which has only served to encourage to those who steal, threaten and assault.

“Where cases do reach the courts, the criminal justice system continues to fail retailers, as even repeat offenders avoid custodial sentences.”

The organisation has put forward a number of recommendations:

• The government should back Alex Norris MP’s Bill or introduce similar legislation to provide for an aggravated offence.
• Repeal the £200 threshold for ‘low value’ shop theft.
• Make it mandatory for police and crime commissioner and Mayors, where they fulfil the function, to include a retail crime strategy in their crime plans.
• Require police forces to record retail crime as a category within their force’s crime statistics.
• Make it mandatory for the police to offer the opportunity to those affected to submit to the courts a business or victim impact statement.
• A change to the alcohol licensing laws to prevent incidents of physical and verbal abuse being used to question the renewal of a licence to sell alcohol.

“We believe that if these steps are taken, together with a positive approach to responding to and tackling crime in retail premises, then it should be possible to move back from the position we are currently in,” Reddish said.

“The government must recognise that verbal and physical abuse of retail workers is not acceptable and is most certainly not ‘part of the job’.”