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The number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has risen to a 20-year high.
A total of 443,995 offences were logged by forces in the year to March 2024, up 30% on the 342,428 recorded in the previous 12 months.
The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which described the latest increases as notable.
Knife crime offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales increased year on year in the latest figures, but remain below pre-pandemic levels.
Some 50,510 offences were recorded in the 12 months to March 2024. This is up 4% from 48,409 in the previous 12 months, but is 3% lower than the 51,982 in the year to March 2020.
The Independent has put together two interactive maps below showing shoplifting offences and violent crimes, broken down by local policing areas. The darker colours on the map represent the areas with the highest crime levels. Scotland records violent crime differently and is omitted from the second map.
The data, published on Wednesday, comes in the wake of major retailers raising concerns about the rising cost of thefts, and as the new Labour government vowed to tackle low-level shoplifting and make assaulting a shop worker a specific criminal offence.
The move to create a separate offence follows a long-running campaign from business owners and Conservative backbencher Matt Vickers amid rising violence against retail workers.
Retailers have said they hope the measures set out last week in the King’s Speech will make it easier for police to investigate and prosecute criminals.
There has been a notable increase in the number of robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which compiled the figures.
These jumped from 18,787 in 2022/23 to 21,226 in 2023/24, a rise of 13%, though the total is still lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic, with 22,727 recorded in 2019/20.
Knife-enabled homicides stood at 233 in the year to March 2024, up very slightly on the 226 in the previous year, but again lower than pre-pandemic figures (253 in 2019/20).
“This follows substantial increases in recent years, which may have been influenced by targeted police action to tackle knife crime,” the ONS said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper blamed the figures on “the disgraceful dereliction of the last Tory Government on law and order” as she promised changes under Labour.
She said: “We can’t carry on like this. This Labour government will put neighbourhood police back on the beat in our town centres, with stronger laws on knife crime, shoplifting and assaults on shop workers to keep our communities safe.
“Labour has set an unprecedented mission to halve serious violence in 10 years and to restore confidence in policing and the criminal justice system. We will be a government of law and order that puts the safety and security of our communities at its heart.”
ONS spokesperson Meghan Elkin said: “There has been no change across many crime types in the last year. However, we have seen falls in fraud, while there have been increases in computer misuse and some forms of theft, such as shoplifting and theft from the person. Notably, shoplifting has continued to see increases and remains at its highest level in 20 years.
“In addition, robbery, offences involving knives or sharp instruments, and offences involving firearms have also increased over the last year while remaining below pre-coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic levels.”
