Home Office figures expose the scale of the shoplifting epidemic sweeping the country as one Co-op near Didsbury in Manchester puts cuts of meat in locked security boxes
A theft is taking place every 78 seconds as a shoplifting epidemic sweeps the country’s high streets.
Home Office figures show that 402,482 shoplifting offences were recorded in England and Wales in the year to September, which works out at more than 1,100 a day.
However, many thieves are getting away scot-free. Between 2018 and 2023, the proportion of shoplifting offences resulting in a charge fell from 20% to just 15%, according to separate data provided by 35 out of 43 police forces.
Many stores are taking action to stop goods being nicked from the shelves. One Co-op store near Didsbury has put cuts of meat in locked security boxes, including chicken fillets costing £4.25.
The Mirror is demanding urgent action to tackle the problem. We believe police must investigate all shoplifting incidents and want to reverse Tory laws that downgraded the theft of goods worth less than £200 to a minor offence. Our campaign to Clamp Down on Shoplifting also wants to see the underlying causes of shoplifting addressed through efforts to ease the cost of living crisis and providing more support for people with addiction and poor mental health.
Shopkeepers and retail bosses have been calling for the police and the courts to do more to protect staff and bring prosecutions.
Shoplifting does not automatically lead to jail time. If the goods are worth less than £200, the maximum sentence is six months in prison but this is usually handled by issuing a postal fine of £70. Labour has pledged to scrap the £200 rule and will put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the streets.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Under the Tories too many communities and high streets are being blighted by staggering increases in shoplifting, but charge rates are going down. That means more criminals are getting away with it and more local businesses are paying the price.
“The Conservative government has decimated neighbourhood policing, leaving our town centres unprotected, and they are still refusing to get rid of the £200 rule, which is encouraging repeat offending and organised gangs of shoplifters.”
Shirine Khoury-Haq, Chief Executive of the Co-op, said: ““It’s critical that police forces up and down the country give tackling retail crime the priority it needs and we are beginning to see a better attendance rate at crimes in our stores; but we need to see further improvement and for that improvement to be maintained. We welcome the measures proposed [by Labour] because they will help tackle retail crime and build on the progress the police have made which will protect our colleagues, their shops and their communities.”