FSB: The cost of crime against business soars to £13,500 for each firm

Small businesses lose an average of £13,500 each because of crime every year, while more than two thirds of businesses are victims of crime, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Results from the FSB’s biennial survey show that two thirds of businesses were victims of crime over the past year – a figure that has risen by seven per cent to 64 per cent over the past two years.

The survey of 8,700 members also showed that the most frequent crime experienced by UK businesses over the past year was vandalism, followed by vehicle damage, threatening behaviour, graffiti, shoplifting and burglary.

The survey, entitled Putting the economy back on track: Crimes against business, also showed that hotels and restaurants, along with motor vehicle sales and repair sectors, experienced the highest level of crime.

Crimes against businesses make up a significant 20 per cent – or the ‘forgotten fifth’ – of all recorded crime in the UK.

Dr Gary Packham, Head of Enterprise at Glamorgan University, where the report was compiled, said:

“Crime against businesses is a very serious issue, as the figures show. A cost of £13,354 every year is a significant burden to a small firm and one the small and medium sized business sector should not have to continue to bear.”

John Walker, FSB National Policy Chairman, said:

“We cannot allow small businesses to continue to be victims of the forgotten fifth of all recorded crime. The FSB is also concerned that the figures are much higher as our survey indicates that only around 45 per cent of firms that experienced crime actually reported it and the majority were not aware of local crime reduction methods.

“What we need to see is the local police directly engaging with the business community to encourage people to report crimes. Police authorities should also set local targets and strategies to deal with these problems on a local level.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. The FSB is Britain’s biggest business organisation with over 215,000 members. It exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed, and all those who run their own business. More information is available at http://www.fsb.org.uk

2. The report, entitled Putting the economy back on track: Crime against business, is the fourth in a series of five looking at the barriers that small businesses face in growing their firms. The report was written by Dr Christopher Miller and Dr David Pickernell and compiled by the University of Glamorgan. To view the document email sophie.kummer@fsb.org.uk or visit http://www.fsb.org.uk/

Contacts:

Stephen Alambritis: 020 7592 8112/07788 422155
Sophie Kummer: 020 7592 8128/07917628998
Prue Watson 020 7592 8121/07825 125695
Marc Shoffman 020 7592 8113/07595 067068

For regional FSB contacts please go to www.fsb.org.uk/regions.