What is a front line licence?
A front line licence permits an individual to carry out licensable security activity in person. A non-front line licence covers managing, supervising or employing those who do, without doing it themselves.
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<img src="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/front-line-licence/diagram.svg" alt="front line licence — diagram from SecureOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/front-line-licence">What is a front line licence?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk">SecureOptix</a>
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</figure>The distinction is about what the person does rather than their seniority. A director who occasionally covers a shift is carrying out licensable activity and needs the front line licence for it.
Front line licences require the licence-linked qualification; non-front line ones do not, which is why the two are not interchangeable and why upgrading is not a formality.
A front line licence must be displayed while working. A non-front line licence is not displayed, which is a visible difference on site and a common thing for an auditor to check.
In practice
A promotion from supervisor to operations manager.
The officer moves into an office role planning rotas and visiting sites. His front line licence is coming up for renewal and he assumes he no longer needs one.
Then a site is short on a Friday and he covers the gate himself for six hours. Managing the contract is one thing; standing on the post is front line activity, and the fact that he used to do it daily does not help.
Covering a shift is exactly how a manager ends up deployed on a licence they let lapse, and it is always a Friday.
What goes wrong in practice
- A manager covering a shift on a non-front line licence.
- Licences not displayed while working, which is checkable on sight.
- Assuming a front line licence covers every activity rather than its own category.