Licensing & regulation
What is an SIA licence?
An SIA licence is the authorisation an individual needs from the Security Industry Authority to carry out licensable security activity in the UK. Working without one where required is a criminal offence.
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<img src="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/sia-licence/diagram.svg" alt="SIA licence — diagram from SecureOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/sia-licence">What is an SIA licence?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk">SecureOptix</a>
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</figure>Licences are issued by activity rather than by job title. What decides whether a licence is needed, and which one, is what the person actually does — which is why a role described as a concierge or a steward may still be licensable.
The offence runs both ways. An individual working unlicensed commits one, and a business supplying unlicensed operatives commits another, so verification is a business risk rather than an HR formality.
Licences expire and can be suspended or revoked between renewals. Checking at recruitment and not afterwards leaves a firm confident about a position that may have changed months ago.
What goes wrong in practice
- Checked at onboarding and never rechecked, so a lapse or revocation goes unnoticed.
- A role assumed non-licensable because of its title rather than its activities.
- Licence numbers recorded from a photograph of a card rather than verified against the register.
- Renewal dates held by the officer rather than by the firm deploying them.