UK firms are advised to be particularly vigilant this festive
season as vacant properties, more cash in the tills and the
pressure to have a good time, heighten crime risk. According to new
research from Premierline Direct, the business insurance
specialists, a third of SME owners believe crime against businesses
is on the rise; a view supported by Home Office criminologists, who
earlier this year predicted that the credit crunch will bring an
end to falling crime rates.
The most common type of crime against businesses is theft from
premises (54 per cent) and with many companies taking time off over
the festive period, leaving property empty, the threat increases.
This is followed by fraud (19 per cent), malicious damage (16 per
cent) and theft from a vehicle (16 per cent). Other types of events
noted from SMEs included online fraud and theft from staff.
Worryingly, the research showed that the average cost for a claim
amounts to £3,409, which is money the business owner would have to
find if they didn't have adequate cover.
Also, it's not just a case of businesses experiencing criminal
activity just once. Of the SMEs that have been a victim of crime,
35 per cent have been targeted more than three times and 36 per
cent have had an incident in the last twelve months.
To help businesses in the fight against crime, Premierline
Direct has launched www.beatbusinesscrime.co.uk; which provides a
platform for regional business communities to keep in touch about
crime in their area. The website's forum allows users to post a
message about an incident so that their business neighbours can be
on the alert. In addition, it features a risk assessment
questionnaire to help SMEs identify how susceptible their business
is to criminal activity and offers information on how to protect
themselves.
Chris Little, Managing Director of Premierline Direct says: "The
general consensus among the SME community is that crime against
businesses is on the increase. So we've listened to the views of
small businesses, who said they would find it useful to have a
forum where they could get advice and share information with other
business owners in their area, and responded to their needs by
launching the Beat Business Crime website.
"To reduce the risk of business crime it's important that
businesses do all they can to protect themselves, for example by
preventing unlawful access to their premises or by undertaking
proper checks on new employees. But it's also important that they
review their insurance policy to ensure they have accurately valued
their assets and have the correct level of insurance cover in
place.
"We understand how disruptive a claim can be and therefore want
to help businesses avoid being a victim of crime. The Beat Business
Crime website is a step towards achieving this."
Compounding the fact that business crime is not recorded
separately by the police, it seems that many SMEs choose not to
report the incident. Of the companies that had been a victim of
crime, a third admitted they had not bothered to report it with 29
per cent saying they didn't see the point.
For more information and advice about business crime, visit http://www.beatbusinesscrime.co.uk
