Door staff and security guards must undertake refresher training to renew their Security Industry Authority licence from April 1, 2025, the SIA says.
The new ‘refresher’ qualifications will be available from exam awarding bodies from October 1. The SIA is encouraging affected licence holders to take the training as soon as possible. If you’re holding a door supervisor licence, you can choose one of these options:
– take the door supervisor refresher training and renew their door supervisor licence; or
– take the security guard refresher training and switch to a security guard licence.
In either case, you must have an up-to-date Emergency First Aid at Work qualification, or equivalent, before you can take the refresher. A new first aid qualification for security officers will be updated to include content recommendations from the Manchester Arena Inquiry on dealing with traumatic bleeds. Going into more detail, the SIA stresses ‘practical elements’ of training, such as searches. Practical elements of the physical intervention unit can only be taught to door staff face-to-face. The SIA justifies these additions in terms of the sector’s part in protection of the public.
As for how much the extra training will cost (either each badge-holder or the sector) the SIA makes the point that trainers set the prices, not it as regulator. As for how long the top-ups will take, it depends – for door staff two days, a security guard half a day, the SIA states. The Emergency First Aid at Work course takes one day. And as for how you pass the top-ups, guards will have two exams, and door staff three (and close protection people four), besides the practical for physical intervention.
In April 2021 the SIA raised the standards for licence-linked qualifications for door supervisors and security guards. Accredited ‘top-up’ awards were introduced for door supervisors and security guards in October 2021. By October 2024, all door and security guard licence holders will be qualified to the same standard, the SIA says.
Tony Holyland, Head of Individual Standards at the SIA, says: “Professional security operatives play a critical role in improving community safety and protecting the public in the UK. As the challenges around public safety increase so do the expectations about what security should be doing and be trained to do.
“We recognise that skills can fade over time, this new requirement will ensure that operatives have up to date and refreshed safety critical skills. A key element of our role as a regulator is to work with the industry to raise standards in private security. The new requirements will help achieve this.”
Alongside the Emergency First Aid content, the refresher training will cover:
For door supervisors –
Conducting searches;
Physical intervention;
Protecting people in vulnerable situations, including content on spiking; and
Terror threat awareness – you have to take an exam; after going through the free official online ACT Awareness and ACT Security courses.
For contract security guards –
Conducting searches;
Protecting people in vulnerable situations, including content on spiking; and
Terror threat awareness – Act/You can Act certificate.
To access the terror training visit https://www.protectuk.police.uk.
As for the April 2025 deadline, the SIA says this six-month period is the same period of transition as last time to allow industry, training providers and badge holders enough time to plan, budget and bring in the new requirements to ensure that they are ready.
Photo by Mark Rowe; SIA officer on duty, summer morning, Southgate shopping mall, Bath city centre.
