Retail workers, police forces and shopkeepers across the UK are joining forces this week for a dedicated week of action to protect shop staff against abuse, violence and intimidation.

Respect for Shopworkers Week runs from Monday 9 November to Sunday 15 November 2026. For the first time, four national campaigns are coming together in the same week: the National Business Crime Centre's Safer Business Action Week, the Association of Convenience Stores' ShopKind campaign, shopworkers' union Usdaw's Respect for Shopworkers Week, and the Retail Trust's Let's Respect Retail campaign.

The joint week aims to make clear that abuse, violence and intimidation should never be accepted as part of a retail worker's job, and to call for coordinated action against the range of crime and anti-social behaviour facing retail businesses.

The collaboration comes as the new Crime and Policing Act's crackdown on retail attacks and theft is expected to come into force, marking a significant change in the protection given to people working in shops. The Act is making assaulting a shop worker a standalone offence, ending the 200-pound threshold for prosecuting shoplifting, and introducing Respect Orders to ban repeat offenders from public spaces.

Usdaw's Respect for Shopworkers Week campaigns for action to tackle the high levels of violence, threats and abuse experienced by retail workers, encourages members to report incidents, and makes it clear that abuse should never be part of the job.

The National Business Crime Centre's Safer Business Action Week brings together police forces, businesses, Business Crime Reduction Partnerships, Business Improvement Districts, security partners and other local organisations to tackle the issues affecting businesses, employees, customers and communities. Police forces will carry out days of action, joint patrols and targeted action against prolific offenders during the week.

The Association of Convenience Stores' ShopKind campaign promotes positive behaviour towards shop workers, raises awareness of the impact of abuse, and encourages customers to treat colleagues with respect. The Retail Trust's Let's Respect Retail campaign unites retail workers, retailers and the public to protect staff against abuse and encourages shoppers to show simple acts of courtesy, kindness and respect.

Joanne Thomas, Usdaw's general secretary, said: "It is brilliant to see the whole industry coming together in welcoming the Government's actions and continue to push for the specific offence of assaulting a shop worker to come into force as soon as possible. Our joint week of campaigning will help highlight the scourge of retail crime and attacks on staff."

She added that progress had been made, with the rate of shop theft reducing over the last two quarters, but said much more needed to be done and that the landmark legislation passed earlier this year needed to come into force as soon as possible.

Superintendent Lisa Maslen, the National Business Crime Centre lead, said: "Retail workers should be able to go to work without fear of abuse, threats or violence. The new specific offence sends a clear message that this behaviour is unacceptable and must be taken seriously."

Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, said hundreds of retailers had already backed the charity's Let's Respect Retail campaign, and that joining forces would help ensure new protections for shop workers were supported by consistent enforcement and visible action.

Association of Convenience Stores chief executive Ed Woodall said stopping violence, abuse and other criminal activity was a top priority for retailers, with almost a million incidents of abuse recorded in the last year alone. He said the ShopKind campaign was shown in thousands of shops across the UK, and that bringing the campaigns together sent a clear united message that colleagues should not have to face abuse, businesses will report incidents, and police will respond effectively.

The four partners, along with the British Retail Consortium and 16 major retailers, this month wrote to the Home Secretary calling for the standalone offence to come into force as soon as possible.

Retailers will be encouraged during the week to support the campaigns, promote respect, report incidents, and work with police and local partners to tackle retail crime. Shoppers are being asked to treat retail workers with courtesy and respect, and to report abuse when they see it.

Usdaw, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest, with around 370,000 members. Most of its members work in retail, but the union also represents workers in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, the chemical industry and other trades.