The supermarket chain has announced a new scheme to try and stamp out the growing shoplifting crisis that has swept across the country amidst highest levels of theft in two decades
Supermarket chain Iceland has rolled out a new scheme seeing people rewarded for reporting shoplifters.
In a bid to tackle rising levels of theft, the firm will see shoppers rewarded for information that might see shoplifters apprehended for their crimes. The supermarket is estimated to have lost around £20m each year as a result of shoplifting, with those reporting theft set to see £1 credit added to their Iceland Bonus Card.
It also reports that shoplifters do not necessarily need to be caught, as long as the information is reported and verified, customers will see the reward added to their Bonus Card. It comes after a high street chain launches 70% off closing down sales as 25 shops set to shut.
Iceland executive chairman, Richard Walker, said in a statement: “We’re encouraging our loyal customers to help sound the alarm, and if they do help to catch a shoplifter, we’ll top up their Bonus Card to spend in store.”
It comes after announcing the initiative on Thursday on Channel 5 News on Thursday. Mr Walker, executive chairman of Iceland, told Channel Five news that shoplifting is not a “victimless crime”. He said: “I’d like to announce that we will give £1 to any customer who points out a shoplifter.
“We’ll put it on their bonus card, if they see any customers in our stores who is undertaking that offence. Some people see this as a victimless crime; it is not.
“It also keeps prices from being lowered because it is a cost to the business. It’s a cost to the hours we pay our colleagues, as well as it being about intimidation and violence.”
The crackdown on theft comes after official figures released last month revealed that the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales climbed to another record high. Some 530,643 offences were logged in the year to March 2025, up 20% from 444,022 in 2023-24 and the highest total since current police recording practices began in 2002-03.
At the time, retail bosses warned that shop theft was spiralling out of control and that business owners need to see immediate results as ministers have pledged thousands more officers for neighbourhood policing by next spring. Association of Convenience Stores chief executive James Lowman said the recorded figures show more crimes are being reported, but this is still “far too low”, with many retailers having “no faith” in incidents being investigated.
Katy Bourne, the national lead for shoplifting at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said more robust police interventions and “meaningful criminal justice measures” are needed to prevent reoffending. Writing in the Telegraph on Saturday, the police and crime commissioner for Sussex said: “What on earth has happened to our high streets and our city centres? Why do some people feel they can rob shops with impunity and abuse and assault staff without any fear of retribution?”
“There must be rehabilitation for some offenders as well as “significant alternatives to our overcrowded prisons”, she said.
