In a further example of how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting public policy, the UK regulator the Security Industry Authority (SIA) says that it has decided to postpone the introduction of new licence-linked qualifications.
The SIA – whose head offices in Canary Wharf in London Docklands are shut, meaning that staffers are working from home – says that it has spoken to industry, exam awarding bodies, and training providers who have outlined their difficulties during the pandemic. Hence the SIA says that its September 2020 launch date for the new qualifications is unachievable.
The regulator has set a revised target date of April 2021. As background, the SIA has worked on this subject for a couple of years, having consulted the sector. The regulator’s motive was to see whether its competency requirements for qualifying to apply for an SIA badge were ‘fit-for-purpose’, to quote Tony Holyland, the SIA’s head of quality and standards, pictured speaking at SIA’s March ‘skills summit’ in London in March.
More on the ‘skills agenda’ arising from the summit, in the June 2020 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
Separately, as featured in the May print edition of Professional Security magazine, the switch to electronic transfer of intruder alarm activations from alarm receiving centres to police dispatch, ECHO, has been put back to July.
