04 Sep 2019The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called on the government to make tackling business crime a priority. The business group has urged the government to hire 'thousands more police officers' in order to help combat business crime. Research carried out by the FSB revealed that almost half of small businesses in England and Wales have been affected by business crime. According to the research, around 7.7 million crimes are committed against small firms every year. 'These are uncertain times for all firms, and with ever-increasing costs, business crime is a problem that is devastating firms across the country,' said Mike Cherry, National Chairman of the FSB. 'On average, those businesses affected by traditional (non-cyber) crime in England and Wales have suffered costs of around £14,000 over the previous two years. This is money that many small firms simply cannot afford to fork out.' The FSB has called on Chancellor Sajid Javid to use today's Spending Review to provide additional funding to the police so that they can tackle business crime.