(Bloomberg) -- UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves provided a boost for British retailers with a plan to crack down on shoplifters who target cheaper products.
The government will scrap the existing threshold that deems stolen goods under £200 ($260) as “low value,” she said in her budget announcement Wednesday.
The move reverses an act introduced in 2014 that means a person charged with stealing goods worth less than that sum faces less serious punishment.
Police reports of shoplifting offenses rose 29% to 469,788 in England and Wales in the year to June, according to the Office for National Statistics earlier this month. Theft and fraud cost the Co-Op Group almost £40 million in the first half, up from £33 million a year earlier, the UK food retailer said last month.
Reeves also vowed to boost training for police officers and retailers to tackle retail crime. “I am providing additional funding to crack down on the organized gangs which target retailers and to provide more training to our police officers and retailers to top shoplifting in its tracks,” she said.
“The Chancellor’s commitment to tackling shop theft will be warmly welcomed by our members,” said James Lowman, chief executive officer of the Association of Convenience Stores, which represents about 50,000 UK businesses.
The measures build on the new Labour government’s plan announced in July to make it an offense to assault a shop worker.
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