Cardiff Against Business Crime (CABC), a Business Crime Reduction Partnership operating within FOR Cardiff, has successfully renewed its National Standards Accreditation. This accreditation recognises the partnership’s continued effectiveness in reducing business-related crime and its commitment to delivering tangible benefits for the local business community in Cardiff city centre.

The renewal highlights CABC’s strong record in partnership working, compliance, and operational effectiveness — essential elements in maintaining a safe and thriving city centre.

CABC provides its members with vital tools, intelligence, and support to help prevent, detect, and reduce business crime. By working collaboratively with businesses, law enforcement, and other stakeholders, the partnership plays a key role in making Cardiff a safer, more welcoming place for everyone.

This achievement underscores CABC’s ongoing dedication to building a secure trading environment and supporting a resilient, confident business community.

• High Streets UK warns that, without urgent reform, current systems cannot deliver on Government ambitions to tackle high street crime.  

• The group has published a four-point policy proposal, including ringfenced policing for flagship destinations; criminal justice reform; a coordinated crackdown on international organised crime; and national framework for business crime reporting.  

• High Streets UK is a pro-growth, nationwide partnership of flagship high streets, representing 5,000+ businesses, contributing £50 billion in GVA annually.  

• The Safer High Streets Forum is the second quarterly meeting since the group’s launch, building on its work to shape government policy and unlock growth.  

London, 5th June 2025 –Following this week’s Safer High Streets Forum in London, High Streets UK has set out a four-point policy proposal to urgently tackle prolific offending, business crime, anti-social behaviour, and organised criminal activity taking place on the UK’s flagship high streets. 

Recent Government commitments on retail crime – including reprioritising shoplifting and making assaulting a retail worker a standalone offence – are welcome acknowledgements of unprecedented levels of loss from customer theft, which have soared to £2 billion,1 and escalating violence against shop staff. 

However, High Streets UK warns that criminal justice infrastructure, police funding and strategic prioritisation of other crime categories must be urgently reviewed if the crime plaguing our high streets is to be meaningfully and holistically tackled. 

The group’s key recommendations include:  

1.  Ringfenced policing uplift in and around flagship high streets;
2.  Developing a clear plan for criminal justice system reform, including strengthened provisions around Criminal Behaviour Orders;
3.  A coordinated, nationwide multi-agency approach to tackling organised crime;
4.  Pilot a standardised, nationwide framework for businesses to report crime.

Carolyn Brownell, Executive Director at FOR Cardiff stated that:  

“FOR Cardiff delivers the Cardiff Against Business Crime (CABC) partnership and works closely with local stake holders including South Wales Police to address crime in the city centre. These are national issues faced by cities up and down the country and, if adopted, the policy recommendations set out by High Streets UK would provide real support to address the roots of these problems. These policies would support high streets and help to keep retail workers safe, in Cardiff and across the UK.” 

The second High Streets UK Forum builds on the group’s previous work to shape government policy on business rates reform, with calls for urgent reform to protect physical high street locations from disproportionate tax burdens. It also forms part of High Streets UK’s broader mission to unlock the growth potential of flagship high streets and ensure they are socially inclusive, welcoming and resilient. 

Lauren Idowu of Public Health Wales and Ian Tumelty the Business Crime Reduction Manager for Cardiff Against Business Crime (FOR Cardiff) received the CAP of the Year (Wales) Award from Kate Winstanley, CAP Director, at the annual CAP celebration at the House of Lords on January 29.

Kate Winstanley said: “Cardiff was the first CAP to include 18-25 year olds within the project. The city has a vibrant night-time economy and the CAP works to ensure the safety of these young people, working in partnership to bring together existing initiatives and add value to them. Help points are to be installed across the city and training is currently being delivered to door staff to provide support for vulnerable young people. The CAP also works closely with Cardiff universities to reduce anti-social behaviour, alcohol-related violence and health risks from high levels of intoxication among students.”

She added: “I’d also like to congratulate Pontardawe CAP and Pontypridd CAP which were highly commended in this category for their most effective work addressing underage drinking in Wales by focussing on the education of young people and holding local public engagement events.”

CAPs are made up of partnerships between retailers, local authorities, police, schools, neighbourhood groups and health providers, working together to empower communities to tackle alcohol-related harm to young people and improve the quality of life for residents. The CAP 2019 annual report, launched at the House of Lords, shows how this innovative partnership approach has brought major reductions in alcohol supply to children, alcohol-related anti-social behaviour and underage street drinking.

Evaluations for the period 2015-2019 show:

• 52% average reductions in regular drinking among 13-16 year olds
• 40% reductions in youth alcohol-related anti-social behaviour
• 80% improvement in Challenge 25 compliance following CAP training
• 90% reductions in residents reporting seeing under 18s drinking in the local area
• 77% reduction in young people hanging around shops and asking adults to buy alcohol for them

CAP Chair Derek Lewis said: ““Underage drinking is associated with school and educational problems, unprotected sex, consumption of illicit drugs, violence and drinking problems in later life. We have been greatly encouraged to see emerging evidence that CAPs are reducing alcohol consumption by underage children.  While the proportion of young people in England who regularly consume alcohol has dropped slowly between 2001 and 2018, the reductions achieved in CAP areas are even greater, with 52% average reductions in regular drinking among 13-16 year olds.  We believe that this reflects the increasing emphasis on working with schools within the CAP areas.”