Community Safety Minister welcomes relaunch of campaign to support retailers

 Retailers Against Crime (RAC) and the Scottish Grocers Federation (SGF) have teamed up to raise awareness of the growing impact of crime on retailers in Scotland and across the UK by revamping its Don’t Put Up With It! campaign.

Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Siobhian Brown MSP, welcomed the renewal of the campaign, which was originally set up in a joint effort by SGF, the Scottish Government, Crime Stoppers/Fearless and Police Scotland.

The campaign seeks to provide information and guidance for retailers about the support available through the Protection of Workers (Retail) Act 2021 and charitable organisations such as Grocery Aid, while also raising public awareness of the impact of crime on local businesses and shop staff.

The protection of workers legislation, introduced by Daniel Johnson MSP and backed by the Scottish Government, came into force in August 2021. Figures available as a result of the act highlight the increase in volume of abuse and threatening behaviour that many retailers are forced to put up with. With 10,295 cases reported to Police Scotland (including 4,624 assaults) up to the end of January 2024.

Siobhian Brown said: “I fully support the Don’t Put Up with It! campaign, which calls for everyone to respect retailers and encourages shop workers to report all incidents of retail crime to Police Scotland. Retail workers provide an invaluable service and any kind of abuse or violence is completely unacceptable.

“The Protection of Workers Act gives specific protection to shop workers by making it an offence to threaten or abuse them, as well as providing further legal protections when the worker is carrying out statutory duties such as age verification.”

SGF chief executive, Dr Pete Cheema OBE (pictured above with RAC managing director Maxine Fraser), added: “We need to see much more being done to tackle the increase in retail crime and anti-social behaviour. The Don’t Put Up With It! campaign has an important role to play in both raising awareness and providing much needed support for retailers.”