Violence and abuse towards staff: Call for evidence

The Government are seeking the views of organisations and individuals who wish to contribute to the understanding of the problem of violence and abuse toward shop staff in England and Wales.

The aim of this call for evidence is to enable the government to understand the true scale of the issue of violence and abuse toward shop staff, the measures which may help prevent these crimes and the extent to which existing legislation is being used to tackle them, and to identify examples of best practice.

This call for evidence covers violence and abuse toward all staff working within a retail setting (including, for example those working in retail outlets at train stations, town centres and shopping centres) perpetrated by members of the public. It is recognised that this issue extends beyond shop staff and can affect a range of people providing a service to the public, for example, those working on transport networks and in the hospitality industry. In recognition of reports of increased incidents toward shop staff in recent years, the main focus of this call for evidence is incidents which occur in a retail setting. However, in analysing the responses we will seek to consider how the findings may be relevant to other sectors.