New law on assaulting retail workers due this week

The Labour government is expected to change the law this week to make assaulting retail workers a crime.

The Crime and Policing Bill will be announced on Wednesday this week (17 July) in the King’s Speech. It will make assaulting, threatening or abusing a retail worker a statutory standalone offence.

The previous government had intended to introduce the same into law in England and Wales later this year, but the timing of the general election meant amendments to legislation did not have the chance to become law.

It is already a specific offence in Scotland under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services Act), which came into force in 2021.

Both parties have been lobbied by major retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Boots to take action on rising crime against workers. The companies believe the cost-of-living crisis and a rise in organised crime has led to the increase.

Writing in the Times newspaper, Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said the level of violence and abuse against his employees was “truly shocking”, reporting that 11 store workers were assaulted every day during the Christmas season. Almost four in 10 incidents involved a weapon.

A survey by the British Retail Consortium published in February found that violence and abuse against retail staff went up by 50% in the year to September 2023. Last year, a group of retailers wrote to the Home Office calling for assaults on staff to be better recorded.

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw said this weekend that the election of a new government provided “new hope that retail workers and the wider industry will get the recognition they deserve”.

General secretary Paddy Lillis said: “Labour has promised to reform business rates to help prevent job losses and shop closures, along with tackling the retail crime that blights the industry; both campaigns that Usdaw has promoted with the support of retailers.”

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