Iceland Supermarket Offering £ 1 Reward for Reporting Shoplifters

Supermarket Chain Iceland Will Financially Reward Customers who Report Incidents of Shoplifting, as Part of Efforts to Tackle Rising Levels of Retails.

The firm’s Executive Chairman, Richard Walker, Said That Shoppers who Alert Staff to a theft in Progress will receive a £ 1 credit on their iCland Bonus Card.

The company estimates that shoplifting costs its business Around £ 20M Each Year.

Mr walker said this figure not only impacts the company’s bottom line but also limits its ability to reduce prices and reinvest in staff wages.

Iceland told the bbc that the shoplifters do not needsarily need to be apprehended for customers to receive the £ 1 reward but will need to be reported and verified.

“We’re Encouning 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,” Mr walker said in a statement.

He first made the announcing on channel 5 news on Thursday.

“Some people see this as a victimless crime, it is not. It’s a cost to the business, to the hours we pay our colleagues, and it involves intimidation and violence,” He Said.

He added that encouraging customers to take part in crime prevention could potentially help to reduce prices in stores.

“We’D Like Customers to Help Us Lower Our Pries even more by Pointing out Shoplifters,” Mr Walker said.

Iceland said it does not want customers to directly interact with any shoplifters, but sugges they find the Nearest Member of Staff and Alert them with a detailed description of the Suspected ShopLifter.

The announsement come amid a steep risk in shoplifting account england and wales.

It is not just supermarkets facing issues. Around nine in 10 pharmacies have reported an increase in shoplifting and aggression towards staff in the past year.

Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones Told BBC Radio 4’s Today Program on Monday that Shoplifting Had “Got out of Hand” in the Uk.

When asked about where it was approves for images of know shoplifters to be displayed in places such as shop windows, she replied: “It of us to be available is going on in in in Our Local Communities. “

According to the office for national statistics, police recorded 530,643 shoplifting offenses in the year to March 2025.

That is a 20% Increase from 444,022 in the Previous Year, and the Highest Figure Since Current Recording Practices Began in 2002-03.

In Response to the Growing Concerns, The Government has pledged to increase neighBourhood policing, Promising Thousands More Officers on Patrol by spring 2026.