ASSAULTS on shopworkers could attract tougher sentences under new guidelines following calls for more workplace protections from retail union Usdaw.  

Recommendations published today by the Sentencing Council will, for the first time, give judges and magistrates specific guidance on sentencing assaults on workers providing a public service.

As well as retail staff, this includes workers in the emergency services, people who come to the aid of emergency workers, security staff and traffic wardens.