Over 3,000 shoplifting offences were reported in the year to leading up to February 2026
Yearly shoplifting crimes in Kingston upon Thames amounted to 3,300 as of February 2026, an increase of 8.2% compared to February 2025, according to Plumplot.
Shoplifting crimes share the third place with public order crimes with 7.7% of total committed crimes in Kingston.
This reflects a wider national trend. According to Statista, the number of shoplifting offences in England and Wales has doubled from 228,108 in 2020 to 530,643 in 2025.
The survey among 21 Kingston residents has shown that a third know someone who is shoplifting.
Four people surveyed said they have considered shoplifting in the past year, and one person said they did it. Others surveyed disagreed.
“I would never consider shoplifting as I believe this goes heavily against my moral code. There’s no difference between shoplifting and stealing. Stealing from supermarkets is one of the reasons for price increase,” said one participant in the survey, who asked to remain anonymous.
Other participants said that shoplifting can be justified in some cases as “prices are extortionate” or if a person is “in desperate need of necessities”.
Professor Vish Maheshwari, Associate Dean for Student Experience at Salford Business School in Manchester, confirmed sentiments expressed by the survey participants. Ha said the “obvious impact” of the current cost-of-living crisis has influenced the shoplifting epidemic, along with other factors such as poverty, drug addiction and mental health issues.
“There is also a further issue where retailers are putting up the costs on products and services, to recoup some of the losses, which means genuine customers are now ending up paying even more, as a result,” Maheshwari added.
A total of 81% of survey participants said grocery prices are too high.
Some people surveyed said that “the bigger chains can afford that” and that they “don’t believe big companies will struggle”.
There has been a shoplifting boom in the UK with big chain stores losing up to £50,000 each week. According to The Sun, some grocery stores have started to put security tags on expensive items like beef.
Maheshwari confirmed that retailers are investing into CCTV, alarms, security guards and other ways to prevent shoplifting “more than ever before”.
In Liverpool, the security guards are being retrained to direct shoplifters to food banks instead of reporting them to police.
According to a survey by the Food Foundation 15.5% of UK households were facing difficulties with access to affordable, nutritious food.
Survey participants were asked how they are dealing with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
One person surveyed said: “I track every spend but it does feel like some months are harder than others. I should be grateful for what I have and that I can save.”
In all, 66.7% of participants “spend less money on nights out” due to the price hike.
Some walk and cycle instead of paying for public transport, while others abstain from takeaway, buy cheaper options and even, as one participant put it, “eat less”.
