The Fed urges next Scottish Government to provide cash help
The Fed is calling on the next Scottish government to provide financial backing for up-to-date CCTV to tackle crime in convenience stores across the country.
In the run-up to the May elections in the Scottish Parliament, the Fed is urging political parties to commit to grants for CCTV which can record better quality images and sound plus digital links to Police Scotland to make reporting easier.
Hussan Lal, the Fed’s president in Scotland, said: “Soaring theft, assault and abuse in shops is absolutely terrifying but many of our members can’t afford to upgrade their CCTV.
“Quite frankly many have systems that, in 2026, aren’t fit for purpose. Small shops are burdened with higher costs such as energy and employers’ national insurance contributions. A £6,500 upgrade is simply beyond their reach.”
The Fed believes this concrete measure by an incoming Scottish government will curb crime, save police and retailers time and enable police to achieve a break-through in terms of successful investigations.
Lal, who runs a shop in Paisley, said: “We believe an impression that crime is not being dealt with effectively appears to be one reason for a volatile electorate. There is everything to gain for political parties committing to obviously effective action.”
The Fed suggests the scheme is modelled on the Scottish government’s successful Business Energy Scotland programme for small and medium sized businesses, which is means tested.
The costs would, however, be considerably lower than the BES scheme ,which offers loans of up to £100.000 and cashback grants of up to £30,000.
The most recent figures from the Scottish government indicate there was a 57 per cent increase in shoplifting over 10 years (2015–16 to 2024–25). It increased by 16 per cent in the year leading up to 2024–25, from 39,000 to 45,000 crimes. The clear up rate is just 49 per cent.
There were 11 serious assaults of retail workers recorded under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 in 2024-25. There were 3,169 offences recorded in 2024–25 of threatening and abusive behaviour of retail workers.
The Fed’s call for action comes as anti-crime outfit Facewatch revealed the number of real-time offender alerts it sent to retailers in 2025 more than doubled compared with the previous year.
