Small Retailers Capital Grants Fund

Alan Campbell the Home Office Minister with lead responsibility for crime reduction recently announced the launch of a new £5 million Small Retailers Capital Grants Fund as part of the National Retail Crime Steering Group Action Plan which is now published at the Home Office website at  http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/retail-crime-action-plan

The action plan marks real progress in the Government’s partnership with retailers to tackle retail crime. It covers important issues such as ensuring that police and other statutory bodies access the best possible data to tackle crime. This includes the development of a new Commercial Victimisation Survey and the launch of a new on-line Securing your Business: Self Assessment tool http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/secureyourbusiness  for businesses as part of a drive to step up work to ‘design out’ and reduce crime, including a new competition run by the Home Secretary’s Design and Technology Council to identify new ideas to tackle shop theft.

The Small Retailers Capital Grants Fund provides practical support to small retailers to purchase equipment to improve their security and crime prevention arrangements such as alarms, security grills, shutters and stock control products.  Selection of the 50 designated areas has been made on the basis of deprivation; the proportion of small retailers and overall crime rates.  Full details of the grants fund which contains small grants worth up to £3,000 and partnership grants up to £50,000 which opened on 18th August is available at the grant administrators website http://grantsadmin.co.uk/smallretailerscapitalfund/