The UK’s £200 shoplifting threshold will be removed in an attempt to tackle the rise in retail crime.
The Labour government’s Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson, shared the decision at a retail crime summit in London this week.
This followed an initial announcement of an expected government crackdown on retail crime during the King’s Speech in July.
According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, there were 469,788 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in the year ended June 2024 – a 29% increase compared with the prior year.
Speaking at the summit, Johnson said: ‘It is simply not right to leave business and retail workers at the mercy of criminals.
“We will therefore remove the £200 threshold and treat shoplifting with the seriousness that it deserves, ending the shameful neglect of shoplifting over the last ten years.”
The current threshold, which was brought in under the 2014 shoplifting legislation, makes shop theft involving property with a value of £200 or less a summary-only offence.
Its removal has been welcomed by the beauty industry.
The British Beauty Council’s Chief Policy and Sustainability Officer, Victoria Brownlie, said: “Beauty retail is a sector that has really felt the brunt of the previous administration’s decision to deem the theft of goods under £200 as ‘low category shoplifting’.
“With costs already challenging for retailers in other areas of business such as rates, utilities, staffing and increased costs of goods and services, it is much welcomed that the new government recognises the need to tackle this with the urgency it deserves.”
Last year, 88 retailers, including Sephora, Boots, Space NK, Superdrug and The Perfume Shop, signed an open letter to then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman calling for action against surging retail crime.
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