UK convenience stores have seen incidents of theft soar over the past year, reaching an estimated 6.2 million, according to new data.

Figures from the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) 2025 Crime Report show incidents of shop thefts across local stores were up from the 5.6 million recorded in the previous year.

Crime cost retailers an estimated £316m over the last year and retailers spent more than £265m on crime prevention and detection measures in their stores over the same period.

Taken together, the cost of crime and investment in crime prevention amount to a 10p crime tax on every transaction in a convenience store, says the ACS.

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Meanwhile, the ACS estimates that there were more than 59,000 incidents of violence against staff in the convenience sector over the last year, and 1.2million incidents of verbal abuse. Some 59% of retailers believe that incidents involving organised crime have increased over the last year.

The report comes as parliament considers the Crime and Policing Bill at Second Reading stage today (10 March).

The Bill aims to introduce a separate offence for assaulting a shopworker, to scrap the £200 threshold for shop theft offences, and to increase police powers to deal with anti-social behaviour, among other measures to deal with prolific offenders effectively.

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “The levels of theft, abuse and violence experienced by retailers over the last year makes for shocking reading, but it will not surprise our members who are living it on a daily basis. Criminals targeting local shops without fear of reproach cannot be allowed to continue, which is why we’re fully supportive of the government’s Crime and Policing Bill.

“In our Crime Report, we have set out ways that retailers and the police have made a positive difference, putting in place strategies that work to keep retailers and their colleagues safer, and we need stronger legislation to back that up. This must be the moment we commit to ending the retail crime crisis, through government, police and retailers working together.”