At The Institute, we launched our Service with Respect campaign back in 2020 to shine a light on the issue of abuse against customer service staff. The campaign has been extremely successful, gaining support across stakeholder groups and raising awareness and action.
Now the campaign is entering a critical new phase. That’s because as part of the Crime and Policing Bill that is currently going through Parliament, there is a clause to make abuse of retail workers a standalone offence that could lead to criminal sanctions against the abuser.
However, while this is greatly to be welcomed, the issue goes much wider than retail staff: there are customer-facing staff in all kinds of roles and contexts who are also frequently subjected to excessive customer hostility. We are therefore calling for the Bill to make abuse against all public-facing staff a standalone offence, not just retail workers.
In support of this, we have published an open letter signed by 100 CEOs and business leaders from organisations across sectors, calling on the clause in the Crime and Policing Bill to be widened.
Customer abuse still a worsening issue
This matters because around 60% of the UK workforce are in some form of customer-facing role, from retail and hospitality staff to call centre agents, financial services staff, transport workers and infrastructure installers.
Our latest research also shows that, despite the growing momentum behind our campaign, abuse of staff is unfortunately increasing. In our analysis published in June 2025, we found that 43% of customer-facing workers experienced an incident of customer hostility in the previous six months – a rise of close to 20% year on year. As a result, over a third (37%) of customer-facing staff say they are considering leaving their roles. Furthermore, a quarter (26%) of those who have been subjected to abuse say they took sick leave from work, taking an average of eight days off.
These findings are deeply concerning. They show that unacceptable behaviour has sadly become entrenched in a small minority of customers. They also indicate that we could be facing a talent drain from customer service roles, which would put significant additional pressure on service teams when they are already very stretched. The increase in sick leave obviously makes this worse and acts as a blocker to delivering the quality service that customers rightly expect.
A threat to the Service Nation
I have written before in this blog about The Institute’s vision of making the UK a Service Nation, becoming a world leader in customer-centric service. This wouldn’t just tick the service box – by boosting customer satisfaction it would also increase customer loyalty and propensity to buy which would bolster companies’ financial performance and have a ripple effect right across the economy. Service excellence can be a catalyst for the economic growth and value creation that we all want to see.
The issue of abuse from customers threatens to severely undermine this aspiration. Apart from the economic benefits, another key pillar of the Service Nation concept is to give customer service the respect and stature it deserves as a career. It should be a role that people are attracted to and proud to be part of. But if instead hard-working staff are looking to exit the profession and are taking time away in stress-related sick leave, this damages that goal.
The right to work without fear
I want to make it very clear that our campaign is not about excusing poor service. Customers have every right to expect impeccable levels of service every time they engage with a business. But it is about finding solutions to curb excessive and frankly often criminal levels of aggression and abuse. Everyone has the right to do their job without fear – and we will never stop striving to make that a reality for customer service and public-facing professionals.
We were obviously delighted that so many prominent CEOs and business leaders signed our latest letter. They represent some of the leading organisations in the UK and span all industries and sectors. The letter has generated very encouraging levels of interest and engagement. For example, I found myself speaking on BBC Breakfast recently as well as BBC Radio 4 Today programme and 5 Live!
I really hope that our lobbying efforts might result in the standalone offence of abusive behaviour being widened in the Bill. Regardless of the outcome of that, I urge businesses to continue to log and report unacceptable incidents, escalating them to the police and other relevant authorities where applicable, and to keep on supporting their staff.
Better outcomes for all
I am mindful that many customers are under pressure themselves in their own lives, financially and in other ways, and that poor service can be extremely frustrating. It is absolutely fair and right to complain when service is poor. The huge majority of customers are respectful and polite – it is a small minority that lose their self-control.
Curbing incidents of abuse is in everyone’s interests because it makes customer service a better and more attractive place to work, improving the quality and experience for all. If we keep on working and campaigning together, I believe we can make a significant difference – driving better outcomes that lift economic productivity too.
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