Retails call on MSPs to double budget for Taskforce
THE Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) has called on the Scottish Government to double the funds of Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Taskforce in the upcoming Scottish Budget announcement.
The 12-month scheme, which was announced as part of ScotGov’s last budget, only has £3million in funding and this runs out in March 2026. The Fed has said the scheme should continue and expand to support more retailers across the country.
Hussan Lal (pictured), president of the Fed in Scotland and local retailer, said in a letter to finance secretary Shona Robison: “As you know there has been theft, abuse and assault on an unprecedented scale in shops over the last few years.
“The words ‘retail crime’ do not come close to capturing the fear and financial pressures experienced by our members.
“We were grateful for the launch of the Retail Crime Task Force, announced in last year’s budget. We’ve also been encouraged by the impact the Force has made in just a few months and by the future measures it proposes.
“We urge you to continue and expand the task force which has a budget of just £3million, a 12-month lifespan which expires in March and a predominant focus on areas such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire with a few officers in Fife, Tayside and the North East.”
The Retail Crime Taskforce is a dedicated policing initiative created to help tackle the sharp rise in retail crime that store owners across the country have been subject to. Its mission is to reduce crime and protect staff and businesses, partly by raising the profile of police work on this issue.
In official figures that the Fed has cited, the Taskforce reports that in just the first six months after its launch – April-October 2025 – it has detected over 500 offences, made 65 arrests and established £25,000 of stolen goods.
Lal said: “We can confirm from hard personal experience that retail crime is not confined to areas in the central belt. Additionally, we anticipate that crime levels will rise rather than fall in March.”
