There were 519,381 shop thefts in England and Wales recorded by the police in the 12 months to September 2025, up 5% from 492,660 the previous year.
The figures, taken from the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales, published by the Office for National Statistics, mark the first time in a number of years that the overall shop theft record has not been broken every quarter – the 12 month period to June 2025 retains this record at 529,994 shop theft offences.
The survey also showed that the number of robberies of business properties had risen sharply to 22,478 offences – an increase of 66% on the previous year.
In addition, the data revealed a fall in the number of offences involving knives and sharp instruments of 9% to 50,430 offences compared to the previous year.
However, the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has claimed that there is a significant gap between what is happening on the ground and what is being recorded by forces, highlighting that there were 6.2million incidents of theft recorded by convenience retailers over the last year in the 2025 ACS Crime Report.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Tackling theft, abuse, robbery and other retail crime is a top priority for local shops, with over half a billion pounds spent in the last two years on crime prevention and detection measures. The official figures continue to highlight the challenges facing convenience stores, but they still pale in comparison to the reality faced by retailers and their colleagues.
“Significant positive steps have been made throughout the last year on increasing the visibility and accessibility of police forces in communities, and retailers tell us that their relationships with the police are improving. What we need now is a commitment throughout the justice system to break the cycle of reoffending.”
ACS will be launching its 2026 Crime Report on 18th March at the Safe and Responsible Retailing Conference in Birmingham.
