Today, the Government has announced that assaulting a retail worker will be made a standalone criminal offence. This means that those found guilty of the new offence could be sent to prison for up to six months or longer for the most serious crimes, receive an unlimited fine and be banned from going back to the shop where they committed their crime.

The Government’s full announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-launches-retail-crime-crackdown

Along with many other retailers, we have been supporting and lobbying hard for change through our Protecting Our People programme. We welcome this significant announcement which will help keep our colleagues, customers and communities safe and make it clear that abuse and violence will never be tolerated. We hope that this is just the beginning of a major turnaround when it comes to retail crime, abuse and most importantly, keeping everyone safe at work.