Violence against retail workers ‘unacceptable and untenable’
More than a quarter of retail workers say that they have experienced physically aggressive or violent behaviour in their current jobs as the UK continues to battle a years-long fight against high-street crime.
More than one in five retail workers in London have to deal with an angry customer ‘every day’, according to research by Foot Anstey.
“Retail crime has been spiralling out of control over the past few years, with incidents of violence and abuse climbing to over 2,000 per day,” Lucy Whing, crime policy adviser at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said.
“It is unacceptable that [workers] should ever go to work fearing for their safety,” Whing added.
A recent Retail Trust’s ‘respect retail’ campaign found nearly two thirds of retail workers felt stressed and anxious going into work last year due to this abuse.
Shoplifting offences, too, are on the rise, costing retailers an eye-watering £4.2bn last year.
This includes £2.2bn from shoplifting, and another £1.8bn spent on crime prevention measures such as CCTV, more security personnel, anti-theft devices and body worn cameras.
Green shoots on the horizon?
Despite the high levels of aggression, there are some signs that the data is moving in the right direction.
The number of workers reporting anxiety in relation to their job has dropped year on year, according to Foot Anstey – down to two in five workers rather than half.
Chief executive of the retail industry charity Retail Trust, Chris Brook-Carter, added that it has seen an uptick in the number of retailers working with the charity to help protect employee wellbeing.
But there is still a “long way to go… There are still metrics from 2025 that show retail workers are facing issues that no employee should have to deal with in the workplace,” Anstey’s report notes.
The government’s new crime and policing bill has also been welcomed by retailers, despite concerns it does not go far enough in its protection of employees.
The crime and policing bill will introduce a range of measures aimed at addressing anti-social behaviour, sexual offences and knife crime.
It will also, for the first time, make it an offence to assault retail workers and make petty shoplifting – of goods under £200 – a more serious criminal offence.
Patrick Howarth, partner at Foot Anstey, said it’s “clear the government is beginning to take retail crime and harassment seriously”.
“We are hopeful the Crime and Policing Bill and new duties to prevent sexual harassment will continue this positive progress,” Howarth added.
Whing said the bill will “improve the visibility of violence against staff so that police can allocate appropriate resources to the challenge”.
“But this Bill needs to go further and protect all retail staff working in customer facing roles, including delivery drivers, just as the Workers Protection Act does in Scotland,” she added.