In the letter drafted by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), 105 retailers have expressed increasing concerns about the surging levels of retail crime and the emotional impact it is having on their staff – as well as a big uptick in shoplifting and theft, which “pushes up the cost of operating and results in higher prices for everyone”.

Retailers spent more than £715m on crime prevention – such as hiring in-store security teams, training teams on de-escalation, and investing in CCTV and body-worn cameras for staff – in 2020/21, but say police should do more to support workers.