The £200 threshold for theft in the UK is to be scrapped in a bid to tackle rising retail crime.

The Labor government’s police minister, Dame Diana Johnson, shared the decision at a retail crime summit in London this week.

This followed an initial announcement of an anticipated government crackdown on retail crime during the King’s Speech in July.

According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, there were 469,788 theft offenses recorded by the police in the year ending June 2024 – a 29% increase. compared to the previous year.

Speaking at the summit, Johnson said: “It is simply not right to leave business and retail workers at the mercy of criminals.

“We will therefore remove the £200 threshold and treat shoplifting with the seriousness it deserves, ending the shameful neglect of shoplifting for the past ten years.”

The current threshold, which has been brought under The Shoplifting Legislation 2014makes shoplifting involving property valued at £200 or less a summary only offence.

Its removal was welcomed by the beauty industry.

The British Beauty Council’s chief policy and sustainability officer, Victoria Brownlie, said: “Beauty retail is a sector that has really felt the brunt of the previous administration’s decision to consider the theft of goods under £200 as ‘theft of low category”.

“With costs already challenging for retailers in other areas of business such as rates, utilities, staff and increased costs of goods and services, it is welcome that the new government recognizes the need to tackle this with the urgency it deserves. “

Last year, 88 retailers, including Sephora, Boots, Space NK, Superdrug and The Perfume Shop, signed a open letter to the Home Secretary at the time, Suella Braverman, calling for action against rising retail crime.

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