In a letter to the Home Office, the committee highlights that there are almost 17 million incidents of shop theft annually, with few leading to an arrest and costing the retail sector almost £2 billion last year. Resulting price rises impact individuals, families and communities.

The nature of the offence has evolved from individualised offending to relentless, large-scale, organised operations accompanied by unprecedented levels of violence. It is now seen as a lucrative profit-making opportunity which is being exploited by organised networks of criminals.

Prolific offenders suffering from drug and alcohol addictions can typically steal up to £900 worth of goods each day to fund their habit and often rely on organised networks to resell the stolen goods for profit. This highlights the crucial need for better community-based drug and alcohol treatment interventions.

There is a widespread perception that shop theft is not treated seriously by the police. The committee recognises the need for a quicker reporting system, better data collection and intelligence sharing between police forces across the UK.

Existing schemes such as Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (linking police and local businesses) are welcome, but should all be part of the National Standards Accreditation Scheme. And a new national scheme, Pegasus, to improve data collection and sharing is also welcome.

The committee’s recommendations to the government include:

• Phasing out the use of the outdated term “shoplifting” which serves to trivialise the severity of the offence
• Supporting the plan to repeal the offence of “low-value shoplifting” under s.176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, which in practice is decriminalising shop theft where the value of the goods does not exceed £200.
• Supporting the creation of a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker
• Developing improved reporting systems to enable retailers to report crime to the police quickly and easily
• Improving mechanisms for police and criminal justice systems to recognise and record when a crime has taken place in a retail setting
• Increasing funding to community-based reoffending and rehabilitation initiatives
• Targeting the stolen goods market with public awareness campaigns
• Introducing regulations and best practice guidance for the use of facial recognition technology by private companies.

Lord Foster of Bath, chair of the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee said: “In March 2024, 443,9953 incidents of shop theft were recorded by police – a 30% increase on the previous year and the highest-ever level since comparable records began over twenty years ago. But the figures are a drop in the ocean when compared with likely real figures estimated at 17 million with devastating consequences for businesses and families.

“The scale of the shop theft problem within England and Wales is totally unacceptable and action, like that underway in the Pegasus scheme, is vital and urgent.

There’s no silver bullet. But, if adopted, the recommendations in our report should help tackle the problem and help keep the public and our economy safer.”