Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) data shows that in the past 12 months, there has been a 54% increase in robbery from businesses compared to the previous year.
The British Retail Consortium’s crime survey shows that incidence of violence and abuse suffered by retail workers almost doubled in 2021/2022 compared to the pre-pandemic rate.
Because of this, the London Assembly is today calling on the Mayor and MPS to outline what work they are doing to prevent retail crime, to ensure retail workers are not subjected to violence in the workplace.
It is also urging the Mayor to work with the MPS to ensure all of these crimes are fully investigated and for the Mayor to discuss the issue with business leaders to help address the issue.
Unmesh Desai AM, who proposed the motion, said:
“Shop workers deserve better protections and it is vital that hard-working staff don’t face violence or abuse at work.
“Data released by the Co-op earlier this year on crime in their stores was incredibly worrying and we have to make sure that these crimes are fully investigated by the police.
“I am pleased that the Assembly supports the right to be safe at work.”
The full text of the motion is:
This Assembly notes that this year has seen a major spike in incidents of retail crime both in terms of violence suffered by shop workers and of serious organised shoplifting.
The Assembly is clear that everyone has the right to be safe in their workplace and condemns the violence that shop and retail workers are suffering at work.
This Assembly notes the worrying trends we have seen this year. Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) data shows that in the past 12 months there has been a 54% increase in robbery from a business compared to the previous 12 months. This echoes the findings of the British Retail Consortium which published its crime survey showing that incidence of violence and abuse suffered by retail workers almost doubled in 2021/2022 compared to the pre-pandemic rate. Lastly, In July the CO-OP released data that showed that it had seen a 35% increase in the incidents of crime suffered in its stores, this equates to over 1000 per day in the first 6 months of the year.
This Assembly calls on the Mayor and the MPS to outline what steps they are taking to prevent the significant increase in retail theft and violence we have seen. We call on the Mayor to work with the MPS to look at whether all of these crimes are being fully investigated and how long the average response is. We also request the Mayor discusses this issue with business leaders and gets their input into how to address this issue.
Notes to editors
- Watch the full webcast.
- The motion was agreed unanimously.
- Unmesh Desai AM, who proposed the motion, is available for interviews.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
For media enquiries, please contact Emma Bowden on 07849 303 897. For out of hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer.