The most recent statistics released by the government on the Commercial Victimization Survey estimates that 38% of wholesale and retail business in England and Wales have been the victim of crime between April 2020 and March 2021. The most common type of crime was theft (27%) and burglary (10%). Unfortunately, theft by customers was the most prevalent crime in retail.

The most commonly stolen items were food and groceries with 38% of respondents experiencing theft from their retail premises.

Last week we saw the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) held a national week of action to support businesses and help reduce business Crime, with The City of London Police who host the NBCC running a number of joint initiatives with businesses and the public to raise awareness of the campaign.

This follows from an initiative driven by the NBCC to support the construction industry in September with a number of tool-marking events hosted across the country. This was a partnership with Williams Trade Plumbing Supplies who hosted the events. Tool theft continues to be a major problem for the trades with Direct Line Insurance for businesses estimating more than £83m worth of tools have been stolen over the last 3 years.

At Axiom Personnel we run a construction desk and hear from our tradespeople the impact of tools being stolen, and our security desk works closely with our corporate clients in London who continue to bring on board security personnel to protect their business premises, staff and stock.

If you are seeing crime numbers increase in your business and are considering taking on security guards, or you work in the security industry and are looking for your next role, get in touch with Harry today.