A new law making it a specific offence to assault a retail worker comes into force in England and Wales imminently. But police figures from Scotland, where a similar offence has been on statute books since 2021, indicate the law may not have its intended outcomes, with 12,000 shop-staff assaults recorded in five years, and numbers growing.
Data obtained via Freedom of Information request by Forecourt Trader show a total of 11,794 assaults on retail workers were reported to Scottish police between 24 August 2021, when the law was introduced, and 1 June 2026.
Reported incidents are increasing in frequency, too, with 3,165 retail workers reporting assaults in 2025, up from 2,840 in 2025, and 2,461 in 2023.
Home Office confusion
Assaulting a shopworker in England and Wales became a specific offence in on 29 April 2026 when the Crime and Policing Act gained Royal Assent. But while much of the Act came into force on that day, retail-specific assaults will not be enforced until the Home Secretary introduces regulation, and provides guidance and classification codes to police.
The Home Office was unable to provide a date from which enforcement will begin, and while one police insider told Forecourt Trader its force would be logging the crime from 29 June, the government could not confirm or deny this date.
One in 20 Scottish retail workers assaulted
Data from the Office for National Statistics indicates 208,300 people are employed in the Scottish retail sector, meaning an equivalent of 5.6% staff have been assaulted over five years. An average of 8.7 staff were assaulted every day in 2025, up from 7.8 the previous year, and 6.7 in 2023.
But while offences are rising, more encouraging news is to be found in Police Scotland’s ‘detection’ numbers for reported assaults on retail workers. These figures don’t imply someone was tried or convicted for an offence, instead indicating a crime has been solved, with an offender being identified and police having done their job.
On average Police Scotland successfully ‘detected’ 61.5% of assaults on retail workers from August 2021 to June 2026, with the force’s best year being 2022, when officers achieved a 64% rate.
Initially Police Scotland differentiated offences between ‘common’, and ‘serious’ assaults of retail workers, later changing this to classify incidents as being with or without injury after officers only deemed a tiny percentage of assaults as being ‘serious’ as the law was introduced.
The offence of assaulting a retail worker came into force in Scotland via a Private Members Bill after the Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) lobbied for and drafted the Protection of Workers Act, which entered the statute books in 2021.
SGF chief executive Dr Pete Cheema says the act has been “instrumental in raising awareness about the stark reality of abuse and assaults that retail workers are forced to deal with every day”.
He adds that while the SGF welcomes “the encouraging progress that has been made” to tackle assaults, “it’s not enough to simply log incidents of hate, anti-social behaviour and assaults, there needs to be swift justice for those committing the crimes”, and “see meaningful changes through the whole Scottish Justice system” are required to ensure that “repeat offenders and organised gangs are sufficiently punished”.
“No one should have to go to work wondering whether they will be threatened and spat at, or worse, attacked with a knife, bat, or dirty needle. Not to mention the wider impact on the wellbeing of staff, their family, and the wider community”.
Ed Woodall, chief executive of the Association of Convenience stores, comments:
“A standalone offence for attacking shopworkers sends a clear message that violence and abuse in local shops will not be tolerated. It’s hugely positive to see the evidence from Scotland showing that this measure is having a real impact, helping to bring more offenders to justice and better protect retailers and shopworkers”.
Inspector Emma Wright, tactical lead for Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Taskforce, said:
“The efforts of the unit and work carried out by local divisions has resulted in a significant number of detections of both shoplifting offences and offences against retail workers.”
Wright considers that as far as shoplifting is concerned, rising rates are “in part due to an increased confidence in reporting from retailers”.
She added: “We cannot and will not become complacent and we recognise that further work is needed to reduce the number of offences occurring across Scotland. We take these offences extremely seriously and through continued partnership working we strive to make our communities a hostile environment for retail crime offenders.”
