The number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has risen to the highest level on record, according to official figures, surpassing half a million offences for the first time in 2024.
A total of 516,971 shoplifting offences were recorded last year, a 20% increase on the 429,873 recorded in 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics.
This is the highest level of shoplifting logged since current police recording practices began in 2003, although retailers said the official figures “severely underestimate” the scale of the problem.
Crime figures have shown a rise in shoplifting since the pandemic, but it has continued to climb, resulting in an increase in the overall level of theft in England and Wales last year.
The rise in shoplifting has been partly seen as the result of squeezed household finances amid high inflation in recent years, but the industry body British Retail Consortium (BRC) has previously blamed it on organised gangs stealing to order.
“While the ONS statistics show that shoplifting is at record levels, their figures severely underestimate the problem,” said Tom Ironside, the director of business and regulation at the BRC.
“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,” he added.
“A survey of major retailers by the BRC showed there are over 20m 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,” Ironside said.
The trade body has calculated that shop theft costs retailers more than £2.2bn a year, and is also causing them to spend £1.8m on anti-crime measures.
Retailers have called for help to prevent and handle rising retail crime and the impact it has on their employees and businesses, and the BRC is demanding more police resources allocated to the tackling increasing levels of theft.
Aside from the financial cost, retail workers have warned of the threat of violence and abuse they face when battling to control shoplifting.
The retail trade union, Usdaw, said two-thirds of the 9,500 retail workers who responded to its annual survey said incidents of violence, threats and verbal abuse they had experienced were triggered by theft or armed robbery.
Paddy Lillis, Usdaw’s general secretary said: “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 retail thefts being reported are “only the tip of the iceberg,” said James Lowman, the chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores.
Fraud increased by a third in 2024 to 4.1m incidents, according to the ONS figures. This included 2.4m incidents of bank and credit account fraud, and 1.1m incidents of consumer and retail fraud, which rose by 35% compared with a year earlier.
The consumer group Which? called on the government to “halt the flood of online scam adverts” through full implementation of the Online Safety Act.
“It’s also vital that the government announces plans for tough regulation of online advertising more widely, to tackle the wave of bogus celebrity-backed investment schemes and other scam adverts that appear on popular websites,” said Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy.
