Business & Retail Crime
British Chambers of Commerce Business Crime Survey 2001
This document is published for archival/historical purposes. It will not be updated.
The British Chamber of Commerce have published a report of crime experienced by their 2914 members. The report forms part of their “Securing Enterprise” campaign that aims to raise awareness of the cost and impact of business crime to do away with the idea that business crime is a victimless crime. The survey was repeated in 2004.
The report in brief:
Incidence & Reporting of Crime
58% of respondent businesses have been a victim of crime in the last 12 months, but only 26% of self-employed reported being affected
The concentration of victims is highest in Yorkshire and Humberside (67%) and lowest in the Eastern region (47%)
Older businesses are more likely to be victims of crime than newer ones - 66% of businesses over ten years old compared with 47% between one and two years old
Businesses in shopping centres reported the most crime, with 27% reporting 50 or more crimes in the past 12 months
The most commonly cited crimes were vandalism and burglary
Half of businesses reported 80 to 100% of incidents to the police
Small businesses were less likely to report crime - 20% of those employing less than 4 people did not report any incidents at all
Of those businesses that did not report any crime at all, nearly half said that this was because they did not have any confidence in the police, one in five because of time constraints and one quarter because no loss or damage had occurred
Cost & Impact
3% of respondents said that crime had cost them over £100K in the previous 12 months
A quarter of respondents said that crime had cost £1K - £10K
Increased insurance premiums were the main reported consequence of crime
3% of respondents said that they changed premises because of crime, while 13% changed the design or layout of their premises
Crime Reduction
82% of respondents were not aware of a community safety partnership operating in their area, and awareness was least amongst the smallest companies
Over a third reported that they had never received crime reduction advice
The main sources of advice are the police (19%), security companies (16%) and insurance companies (12%)
Respondents considered CCTV to be the most effective method of reducing crime. After CCTV, a fast police response was considered the next most effective
The method of reduction considered least effective was staff training
The full report gives a brief but fact-packed survey of the levels of crime experienced by their members. It is available from:
The British Chambers of Commerce Manning House 22 Carlisle Place London SW1P 1JA Tel: 020 7565 2000 Fax: 020 7565 2049 Email: info@britishchambers.org.uk
Last update: Wednesday, August 27, 2008