The True Cost of Workplace Violence in the UK and Why Employers Can’t Ignore It

Abuse, threats and assaults are becoming routine in sectors like healthcare, retail, education and public services. In fact, research found that 1 in 12 workers experienced threats, insults or physical attacks in the workplace in the past year, with some even being told to “expect violence at work”.

In public services, healthcare and retail, the prevalence of violence was even higher, with 1 in 10 employees reporting workplace violence in the 12 months before June 2025.

This research highlights that UK employers can no longer rely on generic policies or reactive responses to workplace violence incidents. And as well as a cost to employees’ mental and physical health, there’s also a huge cost to employers in sickness absence, lost productivity and even potential legal fees. 

There are also plenty of hidden and long-term costs that can have a serious impact on your organisation, such as increased staff turnover, low morale and reputational damage. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that workplace-related injury and ill-health is costing businesses in Great Britain a staggering £22.9 billion per year.

At Little Green Button, over 50% of our enquiries, demos and trial starts come from customers who have already had a workplace violence incident occur. We need to move from reactive to proactive prevention to keep staff safe and reduce costs. 

Here, we’ll explain the direct and indirect costs of workplace violence, what you can do to protect your staff and how to reduce the financial impact on your organisation.

Contents:

• The 4 types of workplace violence
• The direct cost of workplace violence
• Hidden and long-term costs to businesses
• Steps to take to prevent workplace violence

The 4 types of workplace violence

Types of workplace violence aren’t really talked about in the UK. They should be – we’re seeing the same types of violence against workers here as in countries like the US, where the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has classified workplace violence into 4 types: criminal intent, customer/client, worker-on-worker, and domestic/personal relationship.

Type 1: Criminal intent

Type 1, or violence with criminal intent, is when the violent person is committing a crime in conjunction with the violence, and they have no relationship to the organisation or its employees. Examples of workplace violence with criminal intent include:

• A nurse is assaulted while carrying out a community visit
• A shop worker is held at knifepoint by a person committing robbery
• An intruder breaks into an office building and becomes violent and verbally abusive when confronted by staff

This type of violence is thankfully rare, but it can be the most serious.  

Type 2: Customer/client

Type 2 violence is referred to as customer/client violence and is the most common form of workplace violence we see in healthcare settings. In the NHS, it may be referred to as client-on-worker or patient-on-worker violence.

Customer/client violence is when a client, patient or customer becomes violent while being served or cared for. It may also include family members or visitors of clients or patients. Examples of type 2 violence include:

• A patient becomes violent towards a nurse when they are trying to help them wash
• A customer becomes abusive or violent when they are refused a refund by a retail assistant
• A parent disagrees with a teacher’s report on their child during parents’ evening and becomes violent

Type 2 violence can be extremely distressing for the victim and witnesses, resulting in them needing time off work, leaving their profession or seeking damages. A FOI request found that the NHS had paid £4,716,991 in damages for assault claims between 2019 and 2024.

Type 3: Worker-on-worker

Type 3 violence occurs between coworkers. Worker-on-worker violence may also be called lateral or horizontal violence. Most worker-on-worker violence takes the form of bullying, harassment and verbal abuse that can be offensive or humiliating for the victim, but it can also be, and often is, physical. Typical cases of type 3 violence are:

• A worker or group of workers persistently singles out or verbally abuses another colleague or spreads rumours about them
• A manager threatens a lower-ranking member of staff
• A disgruntled employee physically assaults their manager after a disagreement

Worker-on-worker violence can be difficult to solve, and it often points to problems with workplace culture. Acas estimates that workplace conflict costs British businesses £28.5 billion per year, so trying to reduce it in your company should be a top priority. 

We’d always recommend getting HR advice if type 3 violence is becoming an issue within your organisation.

Type 4: Domestic/personal relationship

Type 4 violence is referred to as domestic or personal relationship violence. This is where the perpetrator of the violence has a relationship with the victim outside of work, but the violence happens within the work environment. Type 4 violence can include:

• A doctor’s partner follows them to work and threatens them or makes demands in front of patients and other staff
• An employee’s family member repeatedly calls their office to harass them 
• A shop worker’s spouse comes to the store to intimidate them, disrupting other staff and customers

Domestic violence in a workplace setting can be a difficult one to prevent if it’s normal for the general public to come and go relatively freely in your organisation, such as in a GP surgery or a shop. 

Entrance and exit systems, along with panic alarm software and wearable panic buttons, are good ways to prevent unwanted visitors and reduce the chances of incidents escalating.

A fifth type: ideological violence

There’s another type of workplace violence that’s being spoken about in the US, and it’s on the rise – although it’s still rare both in the UK and other countries. Ideological violence is usually motivated by extremism and is directed at an organisation or a group of people in the organisation for ideological, religious or political reasons.

Examples of ideological violence include:

• An active shooter who aims to terrorise employees, customers and/or patients in the name of their religion
• A protester who becomes violent during a protest outside an abortion clinic
• A patient who becomes abusive in a GP surgery after being asked to wear a mask

Ideological violence has the potential to become serious, as many assailants use weapons in their attacks. Although rare, it’s important to have security protocols like lockdown procedures in place and panic alarm systems with alert types such as ‘active shooter’ to ensure staff can respond appropriately.  

No matter the type of workplace violence, it can have a serious impact on the victims’ and witnesses’ physical and mental health. And that comes at a cost to employers in a variety of ways.

The direct cost of workplace violence to employers

Workplace violence is a huge safeguarding issue, and it’s morally right to protect your staff, as well as a legal obligation. But doing so also makes financial sense.

There are very real and measurable financial consequences to workplace violence incidents. Costs can accumulate quickly, and they rarely stop at the initial event.

Here are some of the most significant direct costs that employers need to consider:

Sickness absence and lost productivity

One of the most immediate impacts of workplace violence is employee absence. Staff who experience threats, abuse or physical assault are likely to need time off to recover, whether it’s from physical injuries or from psychological trauma. The HSE estimates that work-related injuries causing absences of seven days or more costs £7,500 per case.

Even if your staff stay at work, productivity can decline. Anxiety, reduced confidence, and fear of repeat incidents can affect concentration, morale and performance. Even colleagues who were just witnesses to workplace violence can feel unsettled, which further affects productivity.

Medical treatment and rehabilitation

Ideally, physical violence against workers would be a rare occurrence. But unfortunately, a shocking 38% of workplace violence incidents resulted in physical injury in the UK in 2024/25, so the likelihood of you having to support employees through medical treatment and potentially rehabilitation is relatively high.

As well as time off work, your team members may need occupational health assessments, physiotherapy and a phased return to work – all of which come at a cost to your organisation. Occupational health assessments can range from £75 to over £500, while physiotherapy can cost around £60 per session.

Even if your employee wasn’t harmed physically, good employers will offer the option for them to attend counselling sessions, which could cost £100 or more per session if you’ve not enrolled staff into an employee assistance programme (EAP). 

Pair that with the strong chance that your colleague will probably need at least some time off and potentially a phased return to work, and you can see how the costs will begin to add up. 

Incident management, investigations and reporting

Every workplace violence incident needs a full investigation. Managers will need to gather statements, review any CCTV footage, complete internal reports, and, where appropriate, make RIDDOR notifications to the HSE. In serious cases, you may even need to get the police involved.

All of this takes up a significant amount of time and resources. It pulls senior management away from strategy, planning, and other tasks that can have an impact on business growth. In regulated sectors like healthcare and education, the administrative burden can be huge. 

Consider the hourly rate of your managers – time spent on dealing with workplace violence incidents could run into the tens or even hundreds of hours. The cost of them dealing with these incidents could end up being thousands of pounds in serious cases. 

Legal fees and compensation claims

While your leaders are dealing with the aftermath of workplace violence, they may have to get legal teams involved. In serious cases, there is the real possibility that employers will be found to have failed in their duty of care, or employees will pursue personal injury claims, so the financial implications can soon escalate. 

Legal costs that you might incur include solicitors’ fees, court costs and settlement or compensation payments. Workplace assault compensation awards can range anywhere between £1,000 to over £25,000, which could be the difference between your business staying afloat or not. And beyond tribunal or civil claims, if the HSE determines that reasonable steps were not taken to prevent risks, you could face enforcement action.

Improvement notices, prohibition notices, and, in very serious cases, prosecution are all possibilities. In the most extreme circumstances where there has been a fatality, organisations could face charges under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which comes with significant fines. 

But the long-term cost is the impact on your reputation, which may never recover if it is found that your business didn’t do enough to protect its employees from workplace violence.

So, when taken together, these direct costs demonstrate that workplace violence is not only a safeguarding and moral issue, but a financial and legal risk that employers can’t afford to overlook.

It is always the right thing to prioritise staff safety, but understanding the costs of workplace violence can help you get buy-in from key stakeholders, helping you gain a bigger safety budget. And the costs don’t end there – there are plenty more hidden and long-term costs that can help you bolster your argument for better workplace safety solutions. 

Hidden and long-term costs to businesses

The hidden costs of workplace violence tend to stem from the impact that these incidents can have on company culture. Increased staff turnover, lower morale, burnout and reputational damage can all occur when employees don’t feel protected from workplace violence or supported when it does happen. 

Increased staff turnover and recruitment costs

Workplace violence can be enough to make staff quit their job – and they do.

One study found that 30% of NHS workers were considering leaving the organisation after experiencing workplace violence, and the intention to leave increased by 10 percentage points when the violence they experienced was physical. 

When staff leave, you need to replace them. And that costs money – an average of £6,125, according to the CIPD – but it can take months to find the right candidate. In sectors like healthcare and education, recruitment is tough as wages have stagnated and benefits and conditions haven’t kept up with the private sector. 

If you have to rely on agency or temporary staff or pay other team members overtime to fill the gap, it can cost even more, so it’s worth investing in your team’s safety to keep them in their roles. 

Lower morale and disengagement

Reduced staff morale can be a huge hidden cost of workplace violence. Research suggests that a disengaged employee can cost their organisation a fifth of their annual salary in lost training and recruitment costs, sick days, productivity, creativity and innovation. 

Workplace violence incidents will have a huge impact on your entire team, not just those who were involved. Changes in morale will quickly spread through your organisation, which can snowball into lower productivity, more absence, and ‘presenteeism’ – where staff turn up to work but aren’t able to work to their full potential.

Stress, burnout and long-term mental health conditions

Workplace violence can have a long-lasting effect on employees’ mental health. Without the right support, people who experience these incidents can suffer from stress, burnout, and even more serious conditions like PTSD. 

Staff should be offered counselling or occupational health assessments soon after a violent incident occurs to prevent them from becoming so unwell that they need to go on long-term sick leave. 

Poor mental wellbeing costs UK employers up to £45 billion per year through sickness absence, presenteeism and staff turnover, so it makes sense to invest in ways to protect your team’s mental health.

Reputational damage

When a workplace violence incident occurs, the news will quickly spread. Even if it’s not serious enough to be reported in the press, employees are likely to talk about it with their friends and family, and any customers, clients, or patients will too. If your employer brand starts to suffer, your bottom line will too.

Candidates take your reputation into account before deciding whether to apply for a job with your organisation. If they’ve heard negative things about you, they may turn a position down – or demand a higher salary. A bad reputation can cost a company at least 10% more per hire, so protecting your staff can save you much more than it costs to invest in workplace safety measures.  

It’s clear that there are many hidden costs of workplace violence as well as direct ones. So what can you do to protect your staff and prevent workplace violence?

Steps to take to prevent workplace violence

Preventing workplace violence is a risk management and cost control strategy, not just a moral issue. Training, clear procedures and technology can all help to prevent workplace violence or stop incidents from escalating, which in turn will save money.

At Little Green Button, we recommend that all organisations take the following steps to prevent workplace violence:

1. Develop and maintain your procedures

Your team need to be aware of the policies and procedures that are in place to keep them safe. Review them at least once per year to ensure that they are up to date and follow the latest legislation. 

Examples of policies and procedures you may need include:

• A health and safety policy
• An anti-harassment and bullying policy, which may include sexual harassment and third-party harassment together or separately; this is particularly important since the changes to the Worker Protection Act
• A workplace violence prevention plan, which isn’t law in the UK but is common in the US 
• An incident reporting and recording procedure 
• A disciplinary policy
• A lone working procedure
• Emergency response procedures

2. Train your staff

Staff training is key in helping employees spot the signs of escalating situations, understand the risks and know what, when and who to report incidents to. 

Every workplace is different, but common aspects that should be covered in a workplace violence prevention training programme include:

• The nature and extent of risks, which may be from colleagues or customers, clients or patients
• Your organisation’s policies and procedures
• The relevant laws, such as the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Human Rights Act 1998
• Warning signs of escalating situations and how to carry out a dynamic risk assessment
• How to respond to verbal abuse and threats of assault
• How to call for help and get support if an incident occurs

In medical settings such as hospitals or GP surgeries, employees in certain roles may need more specialised training to ensure your teams understand how to communicate with people who may have physical, mental or learning disabilities and how to de-escalate anger or hostility.

3. Implement panic alarm software

Even with the right policies and training in place, staff need a reliable way to call for help in the moment.

When an incident escalates, there isn’t time to search for a manager, dial a number or log into a system. The ability to raise an alert instantly can be the difference between a situation being contained quickly and it spiralling into something far more serious.

Dedicated panic alarm software provides:

• A fast, discreet way to summon assistance
• Clear visibility of where the incident is happening
• Structured escalation paths so the right people respond
• A record of what happened and how it was handled

This is particularly important in environments where staff work one-to-one with members of the public, carry out home visits, work alone, or operate across multiple floors or sites.

At Little Green Button, we’ve seen first-hand that organisations often come to us after an incident has already occurred. In many cases, staff either couldn’t raise the alarm quickly enough, or the alert didn’t reach the right people. Our software is designed specifically to address those gaps.

Little Green Button allows staff to raise alerts instantly from their desktop, mobile device or a physical Big Green Button or Mini Green Button. Alerts can be configured by type – for example, medical, lockdown, or intruder – and routed to specific groups with built-in escalation paths. If no one responds within a set timeframe, the alert automatically escalates to the next level.

This structured response reduces confusion, shortens response times and reassures staff that help is on the way.

Our management portal also supports post-incident review. With clear reporting and alert timelines, you can identify patterns, assess response times and strengthen your prevention strategies. That data can be invaluable when demonstrating that you have taken reasonably practicable steps to control foreseeable risks.

Workplace violence can’t always be eliminated. But the speed and coordination of your response can significantly reduce harm, limit costs and demonstrate compliance with your duty of care.

Being proactive in your approach to preventing workplace violence is not just the right thing to do – it’s a strategic decision that protects your people, your reputation and your organisation’s long-term financial health.