Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to include betting shop workers within the scope of the offence of assault against a retail worker.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards retail shop workers that we have seen in recent years.

For the purposes of this new offence, our definition of a ‘retail worker’ is intentionally narrow given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker, and the assault took place in the course of their work. The Government does not plan to include betting shop workers within the new offence.

However, Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 created a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public, including public-facing roles in betting shops.