Small firms’ victims of crime

Small businesses are falling victim to crime more commonly, a new report shows.

Over the past year, a staggering 64% of small businesses have sufferer a crime made against their company which has cost on average £2,900.

Nevertheless, more than a third of small firms do not report a crime. Reasons have been outlined in the report ‘Localism and tackling crimes against business’.

46% said they didn't think it would achieve anything, 34% thought the police would not be able to succeed in prosecution and 25% said they thought the police just would not be interested.

Evidently, confidence in the police and justice system is very low. The Federation of Small Business (FSB) is calling for effective action to be taken where the Government, local authorities and the police must introduce measures that will prevent small businesses from being frequently beat up.

This could be achieved by creating a single, national definition for crimes against business to make it simpler for the police to record crime and to include crimes against business in all Community Safety Partnerships annual strategic Assessment.

Mike Cherry, Policy Chairman of the FSB, said:

“Small businesses are the heart of our local communities, and a crime against a small firm is not just an attack against that business but it affects staff and has repercussions on the wider community.”

“We cannot watch small businesses being repeatedly victimised and as a result forced to close. Businesses need to be encouraged to report crime as soon as it happens”