What is the cost of crime to businesses and wider society?
What is the impact of crime on businesses?
Shoplifting and fraud
Crimes such as shoplifting and fraud cost businesses in the UK billions of pounds each year. These cost are passed on to shoppers and service users in the form of higher prices.
One report from the Scottish Retail Consortium and Scottish Grocers Federation found that in 2022-23 shoplifting cost £90m in Scotland alone. These business groups also reported that organised crime was behind some of the 28,619 shoplifting crimes of that year with gangs targeting whole towns then moving on.
Cyber-crime
Increasingly, thieves are moving away from more traditional crimes such as robberies and are instead looking to use the internet to commit crime. Cyber-crime mainly involves stealing highly confidential information.
Access to this type of information can result in thieves stealing vast amounts of money. In 2022-23, an estimated 14,890 cyber-crimes were recorded by the police in Scotland.
Certain UK companies such as banks, insurance companies and energy suppliers have recently been the victims of internet crime. Altogether, at least a third of all crime relating to business is connected to the internet.
To prevent cybercrime, the Scottish and UK governments have set up special internet crime units. Working alongside businesses, the Scottish Business Crime Centre aims to use the latest ICT security technology to catch internet thieves.
How is wider society impacted by crime?
For wider society, all crimes come at a cost as the taxpayer must pay for the police to investigate a crime, the courts to prosecute offenders and, if found guilty, the offender to undertake a community sentence or go to prison. Crime can also increase costs for fire and health services, for example when dealing with deliberate fire-raising or medical care after an assault.
Who pays for crime?
Both the Scottish and UK governments spend billions of pounds dealing with the consequences of crime. To do this, government must either increase taxes or spend more from the tax revenues they already collect. Therefore, if crime levels rise, there could be less money for other services, such as education and healthcare.
In the 2022-23, the Scottish Government (Source) allocated just under £4 billion for public order and safety, which was 3.6% of Scottish Government expenditure.
