After extensive lobbying by the retail industry, including the British Retail Consortium, the Association of Convenience Stores and the Co-op Group, it was announced in the recent King’s Speech that the issue of assaults on shop staff will be addressed with an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill. This creates the specific offence of ‘assaulting a shopworker’ in England and Wales and strengthens existing legislation, which only considered assaulting someone providing a public service as an aggravating factor at sentencing.
As organisations committed to the safety and well-being of all retail workers, the Co-op and Nisa have been at the forefront of lobbying efforts, supported by over 600 staff who contributed to the government consultation process.
Nisa’s Managing Director Peter Batt said, ‘It’s encouraging to see the introduction of a stand-alone offence for assaulting retail workers, especially after much campaigning from industry. However, it is crucial that independent retailers are included in these protections and are able to share in the additional police resourcing.’
According to a quote in The Grocer from Police Scotland, this type of legislation and additional police focus have already resulted in higher conviction rates. In Scotland, where such a law has existed since 2021, 60% of incidents of violence and abuse towards shop workers reported to the police resulted in an arrest, compared with only 10% of cases reported in England and Wales.
The new offence will carry a maximum sentence of six months, and perpetrators could also receive an unlimited fine and be banned from the shop where they committed the offence. Serial offenders could be forced to wear tags so their movements can be tracked, and £50 million will be spent on facial recognition technology.
This new focus on the safety of shop staff and increased investment in protecting them will not solve the problem, but the combination of increased deterrence, stiffer sentencing and increased police attention provide evidence that the issue is being taken seriously – which can only benefit us all.
You can find out more about the ACS’s campaign against crime here: Crime Submissions | ACS