SRC: New research shows need for Shop Worker Protection Legislation

Over 1600 cases of shop worker abuse were reported to Police Scotland in the first six months after the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age restricted goods and services) (Scotland) Act came into effect in August 2021. 

Figures released today by the Scottish Retail Consortium and compiled by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre show six serious assaults were reported, 675 common assaults, and 984 cases of threat and abuse.  The research also shows in 58 percent of cases the report was detected by Police Scotland following the initial report.

These figures also show that cases of abuse rose consistently up to December, before falling back slightly in the first two months of the year. That peak coincides with peak trading for the industry as well as the introduction of stricter Covid regulations.

Commenting on the figures, Ewan MacDonald-Russell, Scottish Retail Consortium Head of Policy, said:

“This data demonstrates why retailers campaigned so strongly for the introduction of shop worker protection laws. Far too often the skilled and passionate store employees who help make our industry such a vibrant place to work face unacceptable abuse, intimidation, or worse whilst serving the community. It comes despite record spending by retailers on crime prevention.

“Whilst it is distressing to see the prevalence of these crimes, this new law provides a new mechanism to hold to account and punish the transgressors whilst making it much more straightforward to measure this problem. As the months move forwards this data will help to assess if Police Scotland have the right resources in place to ensure they are able to deal with this unacceptable blight upon our communities.”

Ends

Note to editors:

On 24^th Aug 2021 a new bill was passed by Scottish government to protect retail workers whilst carrying out their roles.  The Protection of Workers (Retail and Age restricted goods and services) (Scotland) Act 2021 now makes it an offence to Assault, threaten, obstruct or hinder a retail worker whilst carrying out their role.

If the offence committed comes as a result of a retail worker enforcing statutory age restrictions the offence is aggravated and as such the accused could face a harsher penalty.

The legislation has been well utilised since its launch, generating a total of 1665 reports in its first six months, which highlights that abuse of retail workers will not be tolerated.  It is not part of their job; it is not acceptable and it is an offence.

In the six months of the legislation being live we seen a steady increase in its use which peaked in December.  The table below shows the breakdown of the crimes committed over the six-month (plus 1 week) period.

The following table shows the summary of the crime types committed and detection rates of such under this act.