Only one in five guards have had a pay rise that they put down to their SIA licence.
Yet two-thirds of suppliers said that they had incurred costs due to increased wages. That’s among the findings of the SIA’s first research into the licenced contract guarding and door superviser sectors.
The research found that most security guards are paid between £5 and £7.99 an hour; and door staff £10 to £13. Among the findings from contract guards: they are positive about the impact of the badge on their work, and most upbeat about career opportunities; four in ten of them paid for their licence application; and two in ten for their training. Most suppliers – the regulator used a sample of 200 companies – have not been able to pass on all licensing costs to customers; ‘customers are still only interested in price’. As for ways that recruitment has become more difficult, the most common response – besides the reply that recruitment is not more difficult (as 28 per cent said) – is that there’s a shortage of licenced candidates (according to 29pc). As for door staff, so far done more by individuals or small contractors, three-quarters of doormen paid for their licence application. Here, most suppliers believe that licensing has made recruitment more difficult; again, a shortage of licenced candidates being the number one complaint. A majority of door suppliers said that door staff are moving between employers for better pay. For the year to March 2007 – that is, the first year of contract guard licences – door turnover was 53 per cent, which contrasts with guard turnover of 24pc.
The SIA also released results from customer surveys this year. Just over half of individual applicants reported getting their licence in less than three months. Many reported longer processing times. The SIA did point out that during April to May 2007 the actual wait time was eight weeks or less for 77pc of applicants.
Those surveyed expected a much faster turnaround time, of four weeks. The SIA said: "We are aiming to deliver to this level of service for straight-forward applications (those without criminal records or other complexities)." The paperwork for applying can take four hours, the survey found. The SIA commented: "Through a series of service improvements, including support for online applications and an online application tracking facility for companies, it is expected that these processing times can be reduced dramatically."
You can download the surveys, six and seven pages, at:
