Figures uncovered by Forecourt Trader show there have been almost 12,000 assaults on shop staff in Scotland since a law making this a specific offence was introduced in 2021. But with English and Welsh police set to enforce a similar law imminently, one must ask how effectively this will be policed.
The early signs are not entirely encouraging: while one police force told us the crime would be enforced from today (29 June), the Home Office was unable to confirm if this is accurate, or provide any commencement date.
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 that ushered in the offence of assault against a retail worker states the crime “comes into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by regulations appoint” – IE the Home Secretary needs to issue guidance and offence codes to police before they can start logging it.
North of the border, Scottish police have been assiduous in their cataloguing, recording 11,794 assaults against retail workers since the law’s introduction there in August 2021. And, while recorded assaults have been increasing, this is thought to be partly due to increasing awareness of the law’s existence.
Once English and Welsh police get the guidance they need, they may want to look to their northerly colleagues to see how they might effectively enforce the offence.
Because as well as successfully ‘detecting’ (IE solving – this does not imply charging, convicting etc) an impressive 61.5% of all shopworker assaults, Police Scotland last year set up a £3m Retail Crime Taskforce, which has brought with it 6,400 charges for all retail crimes alongside a 51% overall detection rate.
This paints many English and Welsh police forces – where retail cases are all too frequently marked as closed with ‘investigation complete, no suspect identified’ – in a not altogether favourable light, but it also indicates fresh government funding for dedicated task forces, as well as legislation, are needed for meaningful action to be taken.
Having worked in retail I’m all too aware how unnerving and unpleasant aberrant customer behaviour is, and how exposed one feels when manning a till by oneself at night – and I’m a tall, broad-shouldered man.
But as welcome as this new law would have been to me back then, unless I had confidence it would be enforced swiftly and effectively, I’m not sure how much tangible comfort it would have brought.
