FSB urges small businesses to report crime

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has explained its reasons for developing a new campaign designed to make the UK's smaller firms more aware of commercial crime.

Under the FSB's recently-launched Every Crime, Every Time initiative, businesses are encouraged to report to the police every instance of crime they experience, no matter how small.

A spokesperson for the organisation said that the campaign is "filling a gap that the government isn't filling", because national surveys do not usually include statistics relating to commercial crime.

The FSB hopes that, by encouraging business owners to report each incident to the authorities, small firms will be able to tackle crime "at a local level, as well as influence policy at a regional and national level".

According to the body, offences against businesses make up 20 per cent - the "forgotten fifth" - of all recorded crime in the UK. Recent figures show that only one in eight incidents are currently reported.