Shop theft offences recorded by police soared 20.2% in 2024, topping half a million incidences in a year for the first time.
According to the Office for National Statistics’ latest crime report, published today, shop theft offences in England and Wales rose to 516,971 for the year ending December 2024, compared with 430,104 in the previous 12 months.
It marks the highest level of shoplifting incidences since police began systematically recording shoplifting statistics in 2003.
“The scale of the epidemic of retail crime is laid bare in these shocking police recorded crime statistics and Usdaw’s own survey,” said Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis. “It is increasingly common for retail stores to be targeted by organised crime gangs stealing to order.
“This is in no way a victimless crime, with weapons and violence used to ensure these criminals are not stopped. Having to deal with repeated and persistent offences can cause issues beyond the theft itself, like anxiety, fear and physical harm to retail workers.”
The British Retail Consortium and Association of Convenience Stores said while the new figures showed incidents of recorded shop theft had risen, they did not give a true representation of the crime rate experienced by retailers.
“While the ONS statistics show that shoplifting is at record levels, their figures severely underestimate the problem,” said BRC director of business and regulation Tom Ironside.
“Their figures are equivalent to less than two incidents per shop per year; if you ask most shopkeepers they’ll tell you they’re lucky if a day goes by without a shoplifting incident.
“A survey of major retailers by the BRC showed there are over 20 million incidents of shoplifting every year – unfortunately many of these go unreported as retailers simply don’t have faith that action will be taken by the police.”
ACS CEO James Lowman said: “The increase in shop theft shown by these figures reflects what our members are seeing every day in their stores. The volume of theft is still massively under-reported though: our own member survey revealed 6.2 million thefts recorded by convenience stores alone.
Lowman added that it was encouraging to see more theft being reported by retailers, even “if it is still only the tip of the iceberg”. “Unless theft is reported, we cannot identify the repeat offenders who are responsible for so much of this crime,” he said.
University of London professor of criminology Emmeline Taylor agreed the data released today was a “silver lining” in that it signalled more retailers were reporting theft.
“This increased confidence in the police to take action is likely due to a range of national initiatives such as the Crime & Policing Bill repealing the £200 threshold for shop theft offences and introducing the assaults against shopworkers offence, Opal’s work on tacking organised criminal networks targeting the retail sector, the NPCC’s police action plan, and the ongoing work of the National Business Crime Centre,” she said.
No comments yet