A rising number of approved contractors – and no rise in the licence application fee, at least not until next year – are outlined in the Security Industry Authority’s latest business plan.
SIA chairman Baroness Ruth Henig began her foreword: ‘The SIA, like all UK regulators, faces a challenging future. Against a backdrop of economic downturn and uncertainty the need for effective yet proportionate regulation of the security industry has never been clearer.’ That word proportionate – defined as ‘intervening with regulation only where justified’ – was a theme of the plan. For instance, on enforcement, the document spoke of the carrying out ‘compliance activity’ where there is ‘greatest risk of non-compliance and where that non-compliance undermines the purpose of regulation, which is to protect the public’. This may explain the recent spate of SIA publicity of checks on weekend door staff – around the country, such as in summer resorts like Skegness – rather than on contract guards or CCTV operators. Similarly, the private security industry can expect more of the same on enforcement, whereby prosecution of offenders in court is an expensive and lengthy last resort. The document spoke of more sanctions short of prosecution under the Regulatory Enforcement Sanctions Act 2008.
The plan – full title, Corporate and Business Plan 2009-10 to 2011-12 – said: ‘Our voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme has also grown to over 600 companies and covers approximately 60 per cent of people working in the private security industry. There have been major convictions sending a strong positive message that is welcomed by the vast majority of the private security industry.’ While stressing the success of the ACS, the document spoke of looking ‘to ascertain whether there is scope within the ACS to recognise differing levels of excellence’. In other words, an NSI-style bronze silver and gold level or some other recognition of a standard or specialism: as was discussed at the SIA annual conference in Manchester in May. The regulator has predicted that the total of approved contractors will rise to 700 by March 2010, due to most ACS firms re-applying, and new ones coming in. SIA income is overwhelmingly from licence applications fees – £33m as year, while the approved contractor scheme brings in about £2m. While the authority reckons to see a surplus of £2.9m this year, having been in deficit previous years, next will be a break-even year.
What can we expect to see in the next few years? Compulsory business licensing, which could roll out from late 2010; and the SIA re-tendering for its outsourced managed service – a service which has drawn much condemnation from licence users and seekers, for delays and other poor service. Also coming up is the London Olympics in 2012; judging by previous Olympic and Commonwealth games, demand for manned security will far outstrip local, even national, supply. While the plan did not go into specifics it spoke of ‘considering initiatives to support heightened demand for security industry services before and during the games’.
On regulation of private investigators – named in the original Private Security Industry Act 2001 but stalled for some time – the document only said that the authority was ‘well advanced with plans’. The document spoke equally vaguely of a ‘potential’ date of bringing in such a licence in ‘2011-12’.
Partly the document sought to put the best slant on the SIA’s last couple of years which as the report said saw ‘problems’. For instance the document spoke of continuing to work ‘with the Home Office and other departments to strengthen the rigour of the identity and right to work checks we undertake’. That refers to the much-publicised and embarrassing affair after it came to light that thousands of people without the right to work in the UK had SIA badges.
Another bugbear has been that the regulator got its predictions wrong as to how much money would come to it from licence application fees, meaning it had to go cap in hand to the government rather than be self-funding. As the plan said: “Accurately predicting the demand for SIA licences continues to be a considerable challenge. In earlier years, this was due to the lack of reliable data in the newly regulated private security industry. As high volumes of licences issued in 2006 come up for renewal, we anticipate renewal applications will make up a significant proportion of licence applications in 2009/10. However, the economic downturn presents its own forecasting challenges.’ According to the plan, recent months have brought an increase in like-for-like licence applications. To the end of 2010, the total number of applications received per month range from 10,000 to just over 20,000.
Another running question that was raised from the floor at the SIA conference in May is short cuts in training required to get a SIA badge, and a sweeping under the carpet of shortcomings – by variously the SIA, Skills for Security and the exam awarding bodies. In the 30-page document the SIA was careful to state that standards are ‘not the sole preserve of the SIA’. The plan set out that the authority establishes the competency requirements and endorses awarding bodies; in other words, it’s for them to police training providers. And it’s down to the guarding or other security suppliers to be sure that their staff are properly trained: ‘It is for individual suppliers to ensure that each operative has all the skills, competencies and experience for the assignments on which they are deployed.’ On the nuts and bolts of its work, the plan said: “Our main regulatory tools, licensing and the Approved Contractor Scheme are working well.”
You can download the plan at the publications part of the SIA website –
