Iceland supermarket offering £1 reward for reporting shoplifters

Grocery store chain Iceland will financially reward prospects who report incidents of shoplifting, as a part of efforts to sort out rising ranges of retail theft.The retailer’s govt chairman, Richard Walker, mentioned that buyers who alert workers to a theft in progress will obtain a £1 credit score on their Iceland Bonus Card.The corporate estimates that shoplifting prices its enterprise round £20m annually. Mr Walker mentioned this determine not solely impacts the corporate’s backside line but additionally limits its means to scale back costs and reinvest in workers wages.Talking to Channel 5 Information, Mr Walker mentioned: “Some folks see this as a victimless crime, it’s not. It is a value to the enterprise, to the hours we pay our colleagues, and it entails intimidation and violence.”He added that encouraging prospects to participate in crime prevention may probably assist to scale back costs in shops.”We would like prospects to assist us decrease our costs much more by declaring shoplifters,” Mr Walker mentioned.The announcement comes amid a steep rise in shoplifting throughout England and Wales. In response to the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics, police recorded 530,643 shoplifting offences within the 12 months to March 2025.That is a 20% enhance from 444,022 within the earlier 12 months, and the very best determine since present recording practices started in 2002-03.In response to the rising issues, the federal government has pledged to extend neighbourhood policing, promising hundreds extra officers on patrol by spring 2026.