Refresher training needed for some license renewals

The SIA has confirmed that from  Tuesday 1 April 2025, door supervisors and security guards must undertake refresher training to renew their licence.

The qualifications will update safety-critical skills that door supervisors and security guards use to keep the public safe. The refresher training ensures operatives refresh their skills in safety-critical areas and learn up-to-date content on spiking and terror threat awareness.

For door supervisors, the training will cover conducting searches, physical intervention, protecting people in vulnerable situations, including content on spiking, and terror threat awareness – ACT/You can ACT certificate.

For security guards, it will cover conducting searches, protecting people in vulnerable situations, including content on spiking, and terror threat awareness – ACT/You can ACT certificate.

The new qualifications will be available from 1 October 2024 and the SIA is encouraging those affected to take up the training as soon as possible.

In April 2021, the standard of licence-linked qualifications for door supervisors and security guards applying for new licences was raised and accredited ‘top-up’ awards were introduced for door supervisors and security guards in October 2021 as a requirement for renewing licenses.

All existing door supervisor and security guard licence holders will have completed the ‘top-up’ training by October 2024.

Tony Holyland, Head of Individual Standards for 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."