Abuse/Violence to retail staff to be a standalone criminal offence.

Rejected 9 signatures

What the petition asks

To make violence or abuse against retail staff a standalone criminal offence. To reduce crime in the town/city centres and make a stand against criminals and give strong signals to the victims.

Looking at the stats on British Retail Consortium for 2022/23: survey shows a 50% increase in levels of retail violence and abuse, to 1300 incidents a day.

60% of respondents say police response is “poor” or “very poor”.

Putting retail abuse as a standalone criminal offence should in effect lower the amount of incidents per day with police having a better response.

Less employees will go off sick/stressed and fell safe on their working environment. Retail abuse can have a long term effect on people’s mental health.

Make the difference to make retail workers feel safe.

Why it was rejected

The UK Government or Parliament was already taking the action it asked for.

In November 2024, the Policing Minister announced that the new specific offence of assaulting a shopworker would have a maximum prison sentence of six months.

Perpetrators would also face an unlimited fine and a ban from the shop where they committed the offence.

Timeline

13 Dec 2024	Petition opened for signatures
6 Feb 2025	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 9

Status Rejected

Rejected 6 Feb 2025

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