24/05/2017

Whatever the common perceptions about increases in crime, the Home Office’s 2016 Commercial Victimisation Survey reveals that crime against business has in many cases actually decreased in recent years. 

For example, crime against the wholesale and retail sector – which has consistently experienced the highest level of crime compared with other sectors – is not only unchanged statistically since 2014 but has actually fallen since the 2012 CVS, with the largest falls in vandalism and theft.

The proportion of premises in the transportation and storage sector experiencing crime also decreased in 2016 compared with the 2012 CVS, with a statistically significant fall in the number of incidents for all major types of crime except fraud.

Administration and support, the third sector covered by 2016 CVS, was also the only one being covered for the first time so there are no direct comparisons. However, less than 20% experienced crime, compared with almost 40% in wholesale and retail premises. More than 50% of crimes were thefts, mainly by customers.

The 2016 CVS is the latest reprise of a survey that was first carried out in 1994 and has subsequently been run in 1994, 2002, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, looking each year at a selection of industry sectors defined by the UK Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC). It is planned to repeat it this year.

The survey found that the majority of businesses across all sectors surveyed were satisfied with the way police handle crime in their area. Disconcertingly, it also found that dissatisfaction across the sectors was higher among those which had been a victim of crime than among those which hadn’t.

‘Crime against businesses: findings from the 2016 Commercial Victimisation Survey’ – which is the first release of data from the survey – links to a range of documents including reports, factsheets and infographics.