New figures from Office for National Statistics has showed a record number of shoplifting offences in the year to June 2024, marking an increase of 29% compared to the previous year.

Almost half a million (469,788) shoplifting offences were recorded between July 2023 to June 2024, compared to 365,173 in the previous year.

This has led to a new shoplifting rate of 8 incidents per 1,000 people in the most recent recordings.

Also, when comparing the period of April 2013 to March 2014 to July 2023 to June 2024, the percentage increase in shoplifting is 46%.  

Data from ACS’ Voice of Local Shops Survey, which tracks levels of theft in the convenience sector, has shown that theft has been increasing every quarter since mid-2021, reaching new record highs toward the end of 2023 and then breaking that record in the first half of 2024.

MSPs call for increased resources for police to tackle shoplifting

The ACS Crime Report estimates that convenience retailers have recorded over 5.6m incidents of theft over the last year.

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We are hearing the right messages from government about reporting and investigating crime, and applying effective penalties. Sadly this is entirely at odds with our members’ experiences of policing in communities up and down the country. Local shop owners and their colleagues are becoming quite sick of assurances from politicians, they want a response when they are put at risk and for criminals to be apprehended and sanctioned effectively.

“These figures should prompt a redoubling of efforts from everyone involved in tackling shop theft: retailers reporting crime every time, the police investigating every offence and identifying prolific repeat offenders, and the courts system applying effective penalties that aim to break the cycle of re-offending.”

In its first King’s Speech earlier this year, the government set out initial details of its Crime and Policing Bill, which promises to ‘introduce stronger measures to tackle low level shoplifting’, as well as introducing a separate offence for assaulting a shopworker.

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