Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

CoronavirusLatest NewsRetailViolence at work

Covid-19 measures fuel sharp rise in violence against retail workers

by Adam McCulloch 24 Aug 2020
by Adam McCulloch 24 Aug 2020 Police outside a reopened Primark store in London
Photo: PA Images
Police outside a reopened Primark store in London
Photo: PA Images

Shop workers have faced a doubling of assaults and abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a union representing retail staff.

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) claimed retail workers have been assaulted, threatened or abused at least once a week on average since the start of pandemic, whereas in 2019 such incidents occurred only once a fortnight. Since late February and the onset of panic buying and the following month the introduction of social distancing, the average retail worker has been assaulted, threatened or abused once every 6.5 days, said the union.

Usdaw has launched a petition to help persuade the government to “create a specific offence of abusing, threatening or assaulting a retail worker”. The petition’s preamble adds: “The offence must carry a penalty that acts as a deterrent and makes clear that abuse of retail workers is unacceptable.”

Retail

Debenhams: what the insolvency process means for employees

M&S to cut 7,000 jobs in restructure

Violence and abuse against shop workers reaches ‘epidemic’ proportions

Retail workers face highest risk of redundancy 

Call for evidence on violence and abuse towards shop staff

A private members bill – the Assaults on Retail Workers (Offences) Bill  2019 – which is sponsored by Alex Norris MP (Labour, Nottingham North), is due to receive its second reading in the House of Commons on 25 September.

Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said: “It’s unacceptable for any walk of life and it needs to stop. There has to be something tangible there that the criminal knows if he attacks a worker, if he assaults and abuses a worker, he will face the full rigours of the law.”

Usdaw represents about 450,000 of the UK’s 2.7 million retail workers.

The British Retail Consortium in its most recent retail crime survey calculated there were more than 420 violent incidents against retail staff a day and stores were having to spend around £1.2bn a year nationally on prevention. Both these figures have most likely risen since March when they were published.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson, said: “The thousands of attacks on retail workers are not merely statistics, they represent real people who needlessly bear the cost of retail crime. From abuse, to threats, to violence, those affected carry those experiences with them for a lifetime. Assault on retail workers should become a standalone offence because no one should have to go to work fearing violence or threats.”

A number of retailers have responded to the surge in incidents by adding body cameras to staff’s uniforms.

The cameras have, anecdotally, defused a lot of situations, according to retail managers, one of whom told Sky News: “If you tell them ‘you’re being filmed’, they just leave the store.”

In late July, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and the Co-op were among chains that said they would not ask staff to police the compulsory masks rule, which carries a £100 fine for non-compliance. They said they would encourage shoppers to “play their part” through signage and announcements in store.

The police had asked the stores to refuse admittance to those without masks but it is thought that, faced with increasing numbers of incidents of aggression, the stores felt that violence would only increase further if they attempted to enforce the rules.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Jo Whitfield, chief executive of Co-op Food, said: “On a daily basis they face abuse, threatening behaviour and even physical assault. Our own figures show that during the Covid-19 crisis such instances have risen and enforcing the wearing of face masks could be another flashpoint.”

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more human resources jobs

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
Test employees for illegal drug use, urges Tory mayor candidate
next post
Sickness absence surges in construction firms during the pandemic

You may also like

One in seven experience workplace abuse, finds major...

2 Apr 2025

One in seven NHS staff physically attacked last...

14 Mar 2025

New law on assaulting retail workers due this...

15 Jul 2024

Retail worker assault to be made standalone criminal...

10 Apr 2024

Assaults on rail and road workers on the...

27 Mar 2024

Violence and abuse against retail staff up 50%

14 Feb 2024

Supermarkets call for action on shopworker abuse

13 Nov 2023

Tool developed to record police exposure to trauma

16 Oct 2023

Tesco workers given body cameras as incidents rise

4 Sep 2023

Shop workers facing a wave of in-store crime

27 Jul 2023

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+