Committee publication · Correspondence · 26 November 2025
Letter from the Minister for Policing and Crime relating to high street crime, 25 November 2025
From: Business and Trade Committee
Inquiry: Small business strategy
Summary
Letter from the Minister for Policing and Crime responding to the Business and Trade Committee's inquiry into small business strategy. The Minister addresses eight questions on retail crime costs, money laundering, crime prevention incentives, enforcement coordination, and legislative changes. She reports £11.9bn estimated cost of crime to business (2015/16 adjusted), details enforcement operations yielding 693 arrests and £10.7m seized, and outlines Crime and Policing Bill provisions including new retail worker assault offence and enhanced closure powers.
Key findings
- Updated cost of crime estimate: £11.9bn (2015/16, adjusted for inflation), with alternative estimates of £4.2bn (British Retail Crime Survey 2025) and £316m (Association of Convenience Stores 2025), though methodologies lack transparency.
- October 2025 enforcement operation: 1,737 illegal working visits to cash-based businesses (barbershops, vape shops, nail bars, car washes) yielded 693 arrests and £10.7m in seized criminal proceeds.
- Economic Crime Survey 2024 found approximately 2% of UK businesses experienced known or suspected money laundering incidents in 12 months prior; NCA assesses £12bn+ criminal cash generated annually in UK.
- Crime and Policing Bill introduces new offence of assaulting retail workers with separate recording, removes £200 summary-only shop theft threshold, and enhances closure order powers (extending application timeframe from 48 to 72 hours).
- Multi-agency operations including March 2025 barbershop campaign (19 police forces, HMRC, Trading Standards) and Operation MACHINIZE 2 (all UK police forces, HMRC, Companies House) demonstrate coordinated enforcement approach.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Sarah Jones MP, Liam Byrne MP, National Crime Agency, Home Office, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Department of Business and Trade, Companies House
Notable line
“… are also removing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.”
Key Quotes
“… we estimate the economic and social costs of crimes against businesses to be £11.9bn in 2015/16”
“Between 1 and 31 October 2025 Immigration Enforcement officers, together with wider law enforcement partners, conducted 1,737 illegal working visits to businesses operating in these sectors and which led to 693 arrests.”
“The National Crime Agency assesses that it is highly likely that over £12billion of criminal cash is generated in the UK every year.”
“Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.”
“The Home Office is working with the NCA and other departments and operational partners to use the learning from recent enforcement activity such as Operation MACHINZE to build on and develop long-term solutions”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗