SIA licensing in the UK: an employer’s guide for security companies

One regulator, one licence system, and the liability sits with you

Private security in the UK is regulated by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Unlike Canada, Australia or the US, there is one licensing system for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The SIA licenses individuals, not companies.

A licence is generally needed when the work is supplied under a “contract for services”: your firm supplies officers to another organisation. That is exactly what a contract guarding company does. In-house staff employed directly by the site they protect usually don’t need a licence, with two exceptions: door supervision at licensed premises, and vehicle immobilisation (Northern Ireland only).

The Act makes it an offence both to work without a licence and to supply security services through an unlicensed officer. That second offence is aimed at the employer. This guide covers what to check before an officer’s first shift, where to check it, and how to avoid the expiry date that turns a licensed officer into an unlicensed one overnight.

SIA licence types compared

The figures below were checked against official gov.uk pages, SIA guidance and legislation.gov.uk on October 18, 2026. The minimum age is 18 for every licence. Where the SIA doesn’t state a figure officially, the table says so.

Fee from April 1, 2026, for new and renewal applications. Each extra licence in the same application costs £102 (50% off); since June 1, 2026, the discount no longer applies to licences applied for separately. Guided learning hours are not stated officially for the Level 2 qualifications. Links to every official page are at the end of this guide.

Match the licence to the post, not the job title

• Some licences cover others. Close protection also covers door supervision and security guarding. Door supervision also covers security guarding. A security guarding licence covers neither, so an officer moved from a retail park to a bar door needs a door supervisor licence.
• CCTV is the easy one to get wrong. Since January 29, 2026, SIA guidance spells out that a security guarding licence allows CCTV only to guard against unauthorised access and property damage or theft. Using CCTV to monitor for disorder or to protect people from assault or injury, including reviewing recorded footage, needs a public space surveillance licence. Check what your control room and site posts actually do.
• Key holding is licensable on its own. Alarm response and key holding contracts need a key holding licence or a front line licence. It needs no qualification and is issued as a letter rather than a card.
• Managers and directors need licences too. If your business supplies officers under contract, directors, partners, managers and supervisors need a non-front line licence. Anyone who personally does licensable work needs a front line licence, whatever their title: the operations manager who covers a shift is a front line officer for that shift.
• Some roles are exempt. The SIA lists exemptions including unpaid volunteers, stewarding, checking tickets (but not refusing entry), responding to sudden events, and in-house staff at certified sports grounds in England and Wales.

Training, refreshers and first aid

Every front line licence except key holding needs a licence-linked qualification from an SIA-endorsed awarding organisation. A first-time applicant’s qualification must have been gained less than three years before they apply. If a licence has been inactive for more than three years, the officer needs a new qualification.

Renewals are where employers get caught. Refresher training became mandatory for door supervision and security guarding renewals from April 1, 2025, and for close protection from April 1, 2026. Top-up qualifications are no longer accepted from April 1, 2026. Before starting a full or refresher course, door supervisors and security officers need Emergency First Aid at Work or an equivalent, and close protection officers need a Level 3 first aid qualification. Either way, the certificate must have at least 12 months left to run.

That first aid rule gives you a second expiry date to track for every officer. A first aid certificate with eight months left can block a refresher course, and with it the licence renewal.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

One SIA licence is valid across the UK, so an officer licensed in Manchester can work a shift in Glasgow or Belfast. The Act came into force in Scotland in 2006 and in Northern Ireland in 2009. The SIA treats qualifications accredited by Ofqual (England), Qualifications Wales, SQA (Scotland) and CCEA (Northern Ireland) as equivalent, and Scotland has its own SCQF Level 6 versions of the security officer, door supervisor and CCTV qualifications.

The practical differences are narrow. Vehicle immobilisation is licensable only in Northern Ireland and is illegal in England, Wales and Scotland. The in-house sports ground exemption applies in England and Wales only. The SIA also advises employers to provide any extra training needed when an officer is deployed in a different part of the UK from where they qualified, for example on local law.

Company obligations and the Approved Contractor Scheme

There is no compulsory company licence for security firms in the UK. What the SIA offers instead is the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS), which is voluntary. Approved contractors are assessed against 78 indicators covering areas such as staff training, financial management and health and safety. Many buyers ask for ACS status in tenders, and approved contractors may only subcontract to other approved contractors unless the SIA gives permission.

• Eligibility: at least 12 months of providing licensable services under contract, at least two licensable officers in each activity you apply for, officers who are employees (or employees for tax purposes), “fit and proper” checks on your controlling minds, and valid SIA licences for all directors and all officers you deploy.
• Fees: a non-refundable application fee of £400 (up to 10 licensable staff), £800 (11 to 25), £1,600 (26 to 250) or £2,400 (over 250), plus an annual registration fee of £25 per licensable individual deployed from June 1, 2026, plus your assessing body’s fees, which the SIA doesn’t publish.
• Licence dispensation: approved contractors with permission can issue a licence dispensation notice (LDN) to deploy an employee whose licence application is in progress. The officer must have held an active SIA licence when they applied, an LDN lasts up to five weeks, and LDN staff are usually capped at 15% of your licensable staff. Nominated people must redo the SIA’s e-learning every year. For renewals that are running late, this is the main safety net, and it is open to approved contractors only.
• Business services: only approved contractors can use Licence Assist and Licence Management. Licence Management lets you carry out applicants’ identity checks and sends you updates when an officer’s licence is suspended or revoked.

See also: SIA: apply for ACS approval

How to check a licence before the first shift

1. 1Get the 16-digit licence number, sector and expiry date from the officer in writing, and see the licence card (or the letter, for key holding and non-front line licences).
2. 2Search the SIA register of licence holders. It is public and free. Search by licence number, or by surname plus details such as date of birth and role. Confirm the sector matches the post.
3. 3Set up a free SIA business account. The Licence Status Checker lets you build watchlists, for example one per site or event, and see licence information from the register as a list. You can also pay officers’ application fees once they link their account to yours.
4. 4Check the right to work separately. The SIA states that a licence is not proof of the right to work. Do your own check before employment: an online share code check, original documents seen in person, or a certified identity service provider. Keep copies for the length of employment plus two years.
5. 5Keep proof of both checks: a dated screenshot or watchlist export in the officer’s file. The statutory defence described below depends on showing you took reasonable steps.
6. 6Re-check on a schedule. Unless you use Licence Management (approved contractors only), the SIA won’t tell you when an officer’s licence is suspended or revoked. The SIA confirmed in August 2026 that it offers no public API for licence checks, so plan regular register or watchlist checks.

See also: SIA register of licence holders · Check security staff have a licence (gov.uk)

The expiry trap

SIA licences do not renew automatically, and an officer can only renew while they hold a current licence in that sector. Once it has expired, they need a new application. Renewal opens four months before expiry, and applying early costs nothing: any time left on the old licence is added to the new one. The SIA doesn’t give a fixed processing time, which is why the four-month window matters.

An expired licence means the officer can’t do licensable work that day, and a firm that keeps them on post is supplying an unlicensed officer. The classic failure is the night shift that starts at 19:00 on the licence’s last valid day and ends at 07:00 the next morning. Unless you are an approved contractor with a valid LDN on file, the second half of that shift is unlicensed.

Track licence, first aid and right-to-work dates with alerts, and block scheduling from the day a licence expires until the renewal shows on the register. Use this tracker if you are still on a spreadsheet:

SIA LICENCE TRACKER (one row per officer)

Officer | SIA licence no. (16 digits) | Sector(s): SG / DS / CCTV / CP / CVIT / KH | Expires | Checked on register (date) | First aid certificate + expiry | Right to work: type + follow-up check date | LDN issued / expires (approved contractors only) | Next action

ALERT RULES
4 months before expiry -> renewal opens; remind the officer to apply now
                          (time left on the old licence is added to the new one)
                          check the first aid certificate has 12+ months left
                          (needed before the refresher course: SG, DS, CP)
90 days before expiry  -> confirm refresher passed and renewal application submitted
60 days before expiry  -> check the application status in your SIA business account
30 days before expiry  -> escalate to manager; plan cover for this officer's shifts
On expiry date         -> no shifts from 00:00 that day until the register shows the new
                          licence (or, approved contractors only, a valid LDN is on file)

RIGHT TO WORK
Time-limited permission -> follow-up check before it ends; flag it if it ends before the licence
Restricted-hours visa   -> cap scheduled hours at the visa limit

CHECK BEFORE EVERY NEW ASSIGNMENT
[ ] Licence active on the SIA register for the whole shift (not just the start)
[ ] Licence sector covers the duties on the post order
    (CCTV monitoring for disorder or injury needs a public space surveillance licence)
[ ] Front line licence card worn on duty (key holding licences are a letter)

What getting it wrong can cost

Section 5 of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 makes it an offence to provide security services through an officer doing licensable work without a licence. On summary conviction the maximum is six months in prison, a fine up to the statutory maximum, or both. On indictment it is up to five years in prison, a fine, or both. The officer commits a separate offence under section 3, with a maximum of six months in prison, a level 5 fine, or both.

Section 5 gives the employer a defence if it can show it didn’t know and had no reasonable grounds to suspect the officer was unlicensed, or that it took all reasonable steps to prevent unlicensed work. Dated register checks and a scheduling rule that blocks expired licences are what “reasonable steps” look like in practice.

Right-to-work failures carry their own penalties: a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker, and up to five years in prison and an unlimited fine for knowingly employing one. The SIA also reminds employers to keep officers on restricted-hours visas within their limits, and to know when an officer’s right to work ends before their licence does.

These are maximums, not fixed fines for one shift. The commercial risk is often bigger: most contracts require licensed staff, ACS approval can be withdrawn, and an incident on an unlicensed shift is harder to defend with your insurer. Rules and fees change; confirm current requirements with the SIA before relying on them. This guide is not legal advice.

How GuardDesk handles licences

GuardDesk keeps each officer’s SIA licence, sector and certificates with their expiry dates, and checks them before a shift is assigned: a dispatcher can’t give a shift to an officer whose licence won’t be valid on that date. When a licence or first aid certificate nears expiry, the affected shifts show up as exceptions before they become a problem.

See also: GuardDesk plans · Scheduling and dispatch

Questions owners ask

Sources

General information for security firm owners and managers, not legal advice. Rules change: confirm with the regulator or your lawyer before relying on them. Checked October 14, 2026.

• GOV.UK: check security staff have a licence to work
• SIA: find out if you need an SIA licence
• SIA: apply for an SIA licence
• SIA: renew your SIA licence
• SIA: check what training you need to get an SIA licence
• SIA: Get Licensed, licensing criteria (May 2026)
• SIA: April 2026 change to the SIA licence fee
• SIA: if your application for an SIA licence is successful
• SIA: clarification on the requirement to display the SIA licence
• SIA: use our business services
• SIA: insurance and the register of licence holders
• SIA: if the SIA does or will provide APIs for licence checks (FOI response)
• SIA: choosing an SIA approved contractor
• SIA: apply for ACS approval
• SIA: changes to SIA fees, your questions answered
• SIA: changes to the rules for issuing LDNs
• SIA: guidance on the use of licence dispensation
• Private Security Industry Act 2001, section 3
• Private Security Industry Act 2001, section 5
• GOV.UK: check a job applicant’s right to work
• GOV.UK: penalties for employing illegal workers