Protection of Workers Bill

If the Bill is passed into law it will create a new offence relating to assaults on public-facing workers and will carry a maximum sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment and a £10,000 fine.

Commenting on the Bill, John Hannett, General Secretary of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw),said:

“Despite our Freedom From Fear campaign helping to raise awareness of the problem and reducing the number of incidents, it is a sad fact that every minute of every day a shopworker somewhere is assaulted, threatened or abused. That is why our members now think it is time to give shopworkers extra legal protection. We hope MPs will support them by backing the Protection of Workers Bill.”

The Bill has been approved by the House of Commons under the ‘10-minute rule’ and will have its second reading on 1 February, when Usdaw members will be lobbying their MPs to call on the government to back the Bill.