Crime against business costs UK economy an estimated pounds 19bn a year and hits individuals too.(Business)

Byline: By Russell Lawson

The Federation of Small Business is concerned about the lack of focus by the Home Office and police on the issue of crimes against business. Pilot surveys have shown they make up at least 20% - or 'the forgotten fifth' - of all recorded crime. There is currently neither a national definition of crimes against business nor a national police performance indicator to ensure that the extent of this type of crime is specifically recognised and addressed by the police.

After a consultation exercise in 2002, the Home Office set up a Business Crime team to co-ordinate the national response to business crime. The momentum behind this work has waned and the status quo is simply not sustainable for businesses, communities or the UK economy as a whole.

Crime against business covers a range of crimes from vehicle damage and theft to vandalism, robbery, burglary, fly-tipping and card and cheque fraud. Some 57% of businesses were the victim of such crimes over a 12-month period during 2005-06.

The fear is that this really reflects the fact that, despite the current clamour around the Respect agenda, tackling anti-social behaviour and alcohol disorder, not enough is being done to help and support businesses specifically as victims in these situations.

A pilot survey carried out by South Wales and Greater Manchester Police in 2005 showed that crime against business accounts for up to a significant 20% or one fifth of all recorded crime in those areas. Similar research in the West Midlands has repeated these findings.

On top of this, 40% of businesses say they do not report crime, because of a lack of faith in the criminal justice system, so the level of this type of crime is actually higher than official statistics suggest. If business crime is specifically addressed as a problem then this will go some way to bringing down crime levels to meet the Home Office's PSA (public service agreement) reduction target of bringing overall crime levels down by 15% by 2007-08.

Some 45% of businesses said crime had cost them up to pounds 5,000 in a 12- month period, which is big money for a small business. Crime against business costs the UK economy an estimated pounds 19bn a year, which is approximately pounds 5,000 for each business, with 12% of businesses estimating that crime costs them over pounds 10,000 a year.

This not only impacts on businesses directly but also passes on costs to customers and individuals in society through the price of goods and higher insurance premiums. The British Retail Consortium says the retail sector alone loses pounds 1.5bn to retail crime annually. Adding on the pounds 1.4bn invested in crime prevention brings the total cost of crime for the year to pounds 2.1bn.

Our own studies show that fraud, and the fear of fraud, is dampening down innovation and the use of e-commerce among entrepreneurs. Nearly 20% of businesses say they are deterred from making more use of buying and selling over the internet because of the fear and risk of online card fraud.

Supporting small businesses is important because they are the lifeblood of local communities. As well as the obvious fact that they provide full and part-time employment, they provide an essential and significant contribution to the sustainability, development and growth of those areas.

So we are pleased that the status of the business community as a 'key partner' has been recognised in the updated version of the National Community Safety Plan 2006-09. With the right support and encouragement businesses could make more of a positive contribution to the national community safety agenda. They have an important role to play, particularly in terms of engaging in the civil resilience and counter-terrorism agenda through getting involved in planning exercises, providing support to their local communities and being the 'eyes and ears' of their local area.