Nearly 90 business leaders, including the bosses of Tesco, Greggs, Boots, WHSmith and Primark, have written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman to press for a law change, making it a specific criminal offence to assault or abuse staff.

This would allow for violent incidents against retail workers carrying out age checks or preventing theft to be counted as "aggravated", and so eligible for a more severe sentence.

The industry argues previous legislative changes do not go far enough.

The letter, organised by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: "This standalone offence would send an important signal that our colleagues will receive better protection in law and act as a deterrent to would-be offenders.

"This action should be taken without delay."

It would see England and Wales follow in the footsteps of Scotland, which introduced a similar move back in 2021.

A survey from the BRC found incidents of violence and abuse towards retail workers nearly doubled in the 2021-22 financial year compared with before the pandemic.

Around £953m was estimated to have been stolen from retailers.

It follows complaints by stores that police were not turning up to deal with assaults on staff and reports of record levels of shoplifting and even organised looting.

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Organised gangs

British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "It is vital that action is taken before the scourge of retail crime gets any worse.

"We are seeing organised gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying stores. We are seeing violence against colleagues who are doing their job and asking for age verification.

"We are seeing a torrent of abuse aimed at hardworking shop staff. It's simply unacceptable - no one should have to go to work fearing for their safety.

"It's time the government put their words into action.

"We need to see a standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail worker, as exists in Scotland.

"We need government to stand with the millions of retail workers who kept us safe and fed during the pandemic - and support them, as those workers supported us."

Police response 'poor or very poor'

The letter also stressed the need for police to prioritise such offences and improve their response to incidents, with nearly half of BRC members (44%) rating the response by forces as "poor or very poor".

Yvette Cooper, Labour's shadow home secretary, said: "Our high streets and shop workers are being let down by a Conservative government that has repeatedly refused to act to keep our streets safe or protect shop workers from appalling abuse and violence, and has cut 10,000 police and PCSOs from town centres and neighbourhoods.

"Labour is calling for stronger action against abuse of shop workers including on sentencing, and we will restore neighbourhood policing and town centre patrols with 13,000 more officers and PCSOs."