Supermarket chain Iceland will financially reward customers who report incidents of shoplifting, as part of efforts to tackle rising levels of retail theft.

The firm's executive chairman, Richard Walker, said that shoppers who alert staff to a theft in progress will receive a £1 credit on their Iceland Bonus Card.

The company estimates that shoplifting costs its business around £20m each year.

Mr Walker said this figure not only impacts the company's bottom line but also limits its ability to reduce prices and reinvest in staff wages.

Iceland told the BBC that the shoplifters do not necessarily need to be apprehended for customers to receive the £1 reward but will need to be reported and verified.

"We're encouraging our loyal customers to help sound the alarm, and if they do help to catch a shoplifter, we'll top up their Bonus Card to spend in store," Mr Walker said in a statement.

He first made the announcement on Channel 5 News on Thursday.

"Some people see this as a victimless crime, it is not. It's a cost to the business, to the hours we pay our colleagues, and it involves intimidation and violence," he said.

He added that encouraging customers to take part in crime prevention could potentially help to reduce prices in stores.

"We'd like customers to help us lower our prices even more by pointing out shoplifters," Mr Walker said.

Iceland said it does not want customers to directly interact with any shoplifters, but suggests they find the nearest member of staff and alert them with a detailed description of the suspected shoplifter.

The announcement comes amid a steep rise in shoplifting across England and Wales.

It is not just supermarkets facing issues. Around nine in 10 pharmacies have reported an increase in shoplifting and aggression towards staff in the past year.

Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday that shoplifting had "got out of hand" in the UK.

When asked about whether it was appropriate for images of known shoplifters to be displayed in places such as shop windows, she replied: "It's on all of us to be aware of what is going on in our local communities."

According to the Office for National Statistics, police recorded 530,643 shoplifting offences in the year to March 2025.

That is a 20% increase from 444,022 in the previous year, and the highest figure since current recording practices began in 2002-03.

In response to the growing concerns, the government has pledged to increase neighbourhood policing, promising thousands more officers on patrol by spring 2026.