Are businesses the forgotton victims of crime

Published on 15 Mar 2007

According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) not enough is done to tackle crime against businesses, which costs £19bn per year.

To combat this it has published an action plan for the Home Office, the Police and local councils with recommendations on how they can tackle business crime.

Twenty per cent of all crimes in Britain are committed against businesses. The FSB says that many employers (40%) do not even report crimes because they feel that "it wouldn't achieve anything". Most crimes are reported to get a crime number for an insurance claim rather than because the business expects the culprit to be caught.

Research by AXA Insurance suggests that in 2005 the cost of crimes against British SMEs reached GBP 721million. Echoing the FSB it believes that the 'true' cost of business crime is much higher as many offences are not claimed for.

Theft and malicious damage is the most prevalent type of crime facing businesses accounting for 95% of crime related claims settled by AXA.

David Croucher, FSB Home Affairs Chairman, comments:

"Crime against businesses makes up at least 20% of all crimes but the authorities do not put the same priority on them as they do on domestic crime. Businesses are the victims of the forgotten fifth of crime in the UK.
"Fifty-seven per cent of small businesses have been the victims of at least one crime in the past year. Owners and staff are left traumatised and businesses can close, costing jobs, if repeated crimes are not tackled and stopped.
"The challenge now for the Home Office and the police is to put this huge number of crimes on their priority list and end the current fragmented approach. They will find businesses willing partners at local, regional and national level. The jobs and livelihoods of many of the 12 million people that work for small firms depend on the authorities finally getting their act together to tackle crimes against businesses."

The FSB's ten-point action plan in its "Forgotten Fifth" report on business crime contains the following recommendations:

  • police forces should adopt a national definition of crimes against business
  • police forces should group existing categories of crime that target businesses under a 'business crime' heading
  • the Home Office should carry out a survey into business crime every two years
  • clear proposals should be set out to improve regional policing
  • the Government must give more support to regional Business Crime & Fraud Forums emerging across the country.
  • local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships should include reducing business crime as a priority
  • all Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships should include tackling business crime in their strategies
  • neighbourhood Policing Teams should ensure they include businesses in their consultations
  • police procedures should be better audited to include stakeholder views
  • crimes against business should be effectively punished, acting as a deterrent and being firm, fair and enforced.

'The Forgotten Fifth', an FSB action plan to tackle crime against business, can be found at: http://www.fsb.org.uk/documentstore/filedetails.asp?ID=374.