The UK Government is expected to make assaulting retail workers in England and Wales a standalone criminal offence this week.
The new law, which makes assaulting, threatening or abusing a retail worker an offence under the Crime and Policing bill, is expected to be announced in the King’s Speech on Wednesday.
It is already on the statute book in Scotland.
According to the British Retail Consortium there were 1,300 incidents against retail staff every day last year. In
Tesco reported that serious incidents involving a weapon leapt 39% in the past quarter.
