The Crime and Policing Bill gained Royal Assent last week, finally bringing into law new measures against retail crime after a long campaign by the Co-op Party, consumer co-ops, the wider retail industry and union leaders.
Among a host of new policing powers, the legislation creates a specific offence for assaulting retail workers, and ends the £200 threshold for shop theft.
The Co-op Group, which helped lead the eight-year campaign for tougher laws, welcomed the news.
It said that at the peak of the retail crime epidemic, “on average three to four Co-op colleagues would be attacked or assaulted in stores every day”. But last year its overall retail crime levels fell 21% – much faster than the 1% fall for the overall retail sector found in ONS data.
Physical attacks on Group colleagues fell by almost a third year-on-year (31%) and, anti-social behaviour and abuse down 36% year on year – a trend the Group sees continuing into 2026.
“Shopworkers have had to tolerate unacceptable levels of theft, abuse and violence for far too long,” said Paul Gerrard, the Group’s director of campaigns, public affairs and policy, “and it’s not right.
“Local shops are an anchor in communities, and that is why Co-op, my colleagues and our members spoke-up, often when others wouldn’t, to clearly say criminal behaviour, violence and abuse ‘should not be part of the job’.
The tide of criminality can be turned, we saw crime levels reducing in the Co-op by more than 20% in 2025. But this is just the start.
“As we continue to invest significantly in wide-ranging safety and security measures, forge successful partnerships with local police forces and see a significant increase in police attendance, this landmark bill has the power to drive further sustained change, and we all must seize this opportunity and continue to do all we can to protect local community stores, and those that work in them.”
The changes are part of a raft of measures in the act, including tougher rules on online pornography, a pardon for women convicted of illegal abortions, a clampdown on fly-tipping and controversial new guidelines on the policing of protests.
