The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is going out to consultation on changes to its licensing criteria when it makes decisions on who is fit and proper to hold an SIA licence.
As set up in the mid-2000s, an SIA licence allows people to lawfully perform licensable activities in the private security industry, notably door work, contract guarding and public space CCTV surveillance. The SIA publishes the criteria in a document called Get Licensed. The SIA describes its proposed changes as a further toughening up of the criteria on criminality; that will also provide greater transparency on the wider โfit and properโ test that all applicants and licence holders must meet. The SIA has proposed are:
– Adding new offences to the list of offences that the SIA considers relevant for licencing decisions including modern slavery, people trafficking and upskirting offences.
– Tightening up the rules around refusing a licence where an applicant has any criminal record that includes a sexual, child abuse or neglect offence, or a prison sentence of 48 months or more โ the SIA says, it already looks closely at the risks of applications involving these offences, and is proposing to refuse all such applications, unless the applicant can convince the SIA that they are not a public protection risk.
– Requiring applicants who have lived overseas in the last ten years to provide an overseas criminal record check when they apply for a licence. At present this requirement only covers the last five years. The change brings the SIAโs rules more in line with the criminality checks required for UK visas where someone will be working in education, health or social care.
– Making clearer the range of other information that the SIA may take into account when deciding whether someone is โfit and properโ to hold a licence โ for example for domestic violence orders or being subject to misconduct or other disciplinary proceedings.
The SIA says it expects these proposals to affect only a very few current licence holders, but the impact will be significant for those who are no longer able to hold a licence as a result. Tim Archer, the SIAโs Director of Licensing and Standards said: “There are currently around 440,000 individuals holding an SIA licence playing a vital role in keeping the public safe. As the private security industry is increasingly asked to take on a wider role in protecting the public, public trust and confidence in private security is more important than ever.
“As the regulator, a key priority of the SIA is to ensure those who should not have a licence to work in private security are not permitted to. Although the current criteria have not been substantially changed for some years, the SIA has taken a more robust approach to considering individual sexual and child abuse and neglect offences since 2021. We have also considered the Angiolini Inquiry findings from 2024 which proposed a much more risk-averse approach to police vetting in relation to sexual offences.
“Our proposals will strengthen our already robust processes and support the drive to improve standards in the private security industry. They will also provide greater transparency to the licensing decision process and help anyone applying for a licence to be clear before they apply about what we mean by โFit and Properโ in terms of the standards and characteristics we require.”
The consultation runs for ten weeks, to Tuesday, May 20. The SIA’s final proposals will be submitted to Home Office ministers for approval and publication.
Background
The SIA uses rules called โcriteriaโ to decide whether to grant a licence. Criteria are also used when the SIA applies its powers under the 2001 Act to revoke, suspend or modify a licence. Section 7 of the Private Security Act 2001 requires the SIA to publish a document setting out these criteria. Get Licensed is that document. Section 7 of the Act also requires the SIA to get these criteria and (any changes to them) approved by the Secretary of State for the Home Office.
What the SIA considers when assessing criminality
The SIA will always obtain a criminal record check for anyone who applies for a licence. Having a criminal record does not necessarily mean that an applicant will not get a licence. However, any convictions, warnings, cautions, community resolutions, absolute or conditional discharges, admonishments or charges awaiting trial for offences will be taken into consideration. Get Licensed includes a list of relevant offences that the SIA will take into consideration in licensing decisions. The criteria say that if an applicantโs record includes a relevant offence, the licensing decision depends on: the actual sentence or disposal imposed by the court, and
when sentencing restrictions ended.
Visit www.gov.uk/sia.
