From today, Monday 11 April all door supervisors working in England and Wales are required by law to have obtained a Security Industry Authority licence. Those working without a licence risk prosecution, the authority adds.
To qualify for a licence all door supervisors must undergo an identity and criminal background check, in addition to undertaking a training course and sitting exams that ensures they meet set levels of competence and professional standards.
Any door supervisor working without the proper accreditation will be damaging their eligibility to be licensed in the future, the SIA adds, and establishments found to be employing un-licensed door supervisors put their premises’ licence at risk, as police will be carrying out spot-checks to enforce the new legislation.
However, as reported recently, the SIA and police, stressing that they do not want to see pubs and clubs close, ‘reluctantly’ agreed to the police exercising ‘a period of discretion’ in London until June 6. That meant the authorities taking what they call a ‘fair and proportionate approach’ to those door staff who have made every effort to comply with the law and have applied for their SIA licence. In other regions, where door staff have also been slow to take up licences – and door staff have claimed delays in the process of getting an SIA badge – there has been similarly a month or two of ‘discretion’.
