The Government has announced a new set of laws aimed at cracking down on antisocial and violent behaviour, and providing greater protections for retail businesses

Government and industry statistics show that violence against retail workers is a growing issue in the UK, alongside theft. 

The upcoming laws, first published in February,  will create a new offence of assaulting a retail worker. They will also mean that people who shoplift good worth under £200 can now be prosecuted more easily.

The British Retail Consortium Crime Report found that in 2023-24 there were a staggering 737,000 incidents of violence and abuse towards retail workers. 

This was up from 475,000, or 1,300 incidents a day, in 2021-2022. 

It also found that businesses lost a shocking £4.2 billion due to retail crime. Of this, £2.2 billion was due to theft alone.

As such, the new laws mean that retailers – in the beauty industry or otherwise – will be more protected against loss of revenue due to theft, and offenders will be deterred from being violent towards workers.

The Government says that under the legislation, offenders may be prevented from visiting affected shops or premises. It also says that retail assaults will be recorded separately to other assaults so that police can understand the true scale of the problem.

The UK police also recorded similar statistics. They found that: 

• In 2023-2024, there were one million incidents of antisocial behaviour.
• In the same year there were over 490,000 shop theft offences. This was an increase of 23% over the previous year.
• 55,000 offences were violent in nature and involved a weapon.

It is likely that the bill will come into effect at the end of 2025, or beginning of 2026. 

To find out more, visit the Government’s summary of the bill and its pages on the progress of the bill through Parliament. 

The British Retail Consortium’s Crime Report 2025 can be found here.