The comms (communications) of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) like any organisation must be a balance. The SIA seeks to get messages across, even if they have to be repeated, like the โSee it-Say it-Sortedโ awareness messaging on the railways, so often the risk is that listeners mentally switch off in annoyance in an ever-noisier world.
Doing an online search for you or your organisation can be a sobering experience, and for the SIA it can throw up that commercial companies are taking its name in vain, if only indirectly, and a compliment of sorts, by saying โSIA licenceโ that they offer training towards a door application. A grumble inside the security industry almost as long as the SIAโs 20-year history has been over alleged shortcomings in enforcement of standards by the regulator. Yet the well-made and short videos on Youtube featuring the SIAโs director of inspections and enforcement Pete Easterbrook, setting out the SIAโs work against malpractice, only have a fraction of the views of generic SIA videos informing about how the SIA processes badge applications, or how to submit an application.
Contact centre cost avoided
Such โhow toโ videos do serve a purpose, and can even show a return on investment (elusive but the holy grail for any service). A video that answers questions for an applicant โ and gives the right answers, rather than something not signed off by the SIA that might mislead applicants โ could mean that an applicant doesnโt need to ring a contact centre, or doesnโt make a mistake when applying, which all require a human response, which comes with a cost.
A problem thatโs only getting worse in the ever-expanding media landscape is that unless you have lots of resources, itโs impossible to spread your message fully, across every channel. That does bring us on to who you want to reach; and the SIA all along has had numerous audiences, of differing sizes. One, is the security industry โ 450,000 licence-holders, and 712 company members of the approved contractor scheme, as of August 2026 according to the SIAโs stats. One is the political master, the Home Office; and the other is the general public, whose protection is the stated ultimate purpose of the SIA โ although thatโs not necessarily quite the same as the purpose of private security, which seeks to satisfy customers and make a living.
As the regulator and inspector of Martynโs Law, the SIA is about to have new โcustomersโ โ hundreds of thousands of premises and events, that come in scope of the duty to take steps to counter the threat of terrorism. As the April 2027 deadline for Martynโs Law to come into force nears, the SIA has to put over new messages to vertical sectors โ pubs and nightclubs, museums and theatres, places of worship, retail, schools and colleges, hospitals โ each with plenty on their plate already.
Other sectors
None of those sectors has had reason to even know the SIA exists, and each has reason to find its attentions unwelcome โ pubs and clubs complain of existential threats to their existence and will say the extra effort and spend to comply with Martynโs Law is burdensome; the education and health sectors are likewise strapped for cash; places of worship were given an exception whereby no matter how large their capacity, they only have to comply with the โstandardโ tier of Martynโs Law for a capacity of 200 to 800. Yet places of worship are turning themselves into secular venues โ cathedrals hosting concerts โ as an extra income stream. The comms people like the rest of the SIA at work on Martynโs Law from their new base in Manchester are about to get busier.
Photo by Mark Rowe: Kent pub.
