Corporate report

SIA strategic plan: 2023 to 2026

Published 20 June 2023

Purpose

Protecting the public through effective regulation of the private security industry and working with partners to raise standards across the sector.

How everything leads to the SIA’s golden thread: protecting the public

Image 1: how our values and our work contribute to protecting the public

Strategic themes

Regulating effectively

We will improve our effectiveness by focussing on improved public protection outcomes as we operate a robust, risk-based, licensing and compliance regime.

Regulating efficiently

We will provide value for money by spending well and being efficient in discharging our responsibilities and delivering our purpose.

Improving individual standards

We will ensure entry training and behavioural standards keep pace with public expectations and support the private security industry in taking responsibility for improving training standards further.

Improving businesses standards

We will work with the industry to improve the standards security businesses work to and promote the value of good standards in security provision.

Driving strategic partnerships

We will use our influence as a respected regulator and work jointly with key partners to secure compliance, drive higher standards and improved public confidence in private security provision.

Supporting our people

We will support our employees to give their best, perform at the highest level, continually improve their skills and fulfil their potential to ensure that we meet our public protection aims and deliver high quality services.

Foreword from the Chair and Chief Executive

Public protection must be at the heart of everything we do. Whilst security operates in many environments and circumstances, our priority will always be the safety of the public. We are unapologetic about this focus on public protection. It is why private security is subject to a legislative regime and why there is a public body regulator to license those who are security operatives and enforce compliance.

As a result, public trust and confidence in both private security and in the SIA, as the regulator, is important. In 2022, we sought to address a gap in our understanding and knowledge about what the public think about the industry. Research into public trust and confidence in private security provision and its regulation showed more people than not trust security officers, believing they are competent and act with integrity. Public-facing security roles make people feel safe and are felt to be necessary in a range of settings.

Public trust is key in whatever we as the regulator do, and these research findings have been valuable in developing this corporate strategy. Open dialogue and trust between the industry and the regulator is also important in achieving effective regulatory outcomes.

Through our Stakeholder Forum we have agreed four key areas of mutual interest in pursuance of public protection aims and these are reflected in this strategy:

• Improved perception of the industry and public trust and confidence in it
• A private security industry supported by good terms and conditions by both employers and buyers who recognise and pay for good security working to professional standards
• Private security as a valued career with an emphasis on skills development, continuous professional development and specialist training
• A more inclusive private security industry, with a particular focus on encouraging more women into the industry

We will always prioritise delivery of our statutory functions but we also have a role to play in supporting the industry through change. The impact of Martyn’s law (the proposed Protect Duty) on venues and buyers of private security will mark a welcome and significant step forward in improved public protection. This will impact on the private security industry - individual licensed security operatives, their employers, security businesses and labour providers who deploy them. Owners and operators of many venues will need the assistance of licensed private security to protect the public. There will be clear expectations on the delivery of the professional services they provide and the standards they work to. Our partnership work will help support the industry in understanding, preparing for and fulfilling their roles.

Our strategic considerations have also been influenced by our relations across the UK. This UK-wide focus was solidified in the reset of our strategic direction in 2022, following our appointments as Chair and Chief Executive in June and November 2021 respectively. As a UK regulator, it is important that we take into account the priorities and focus of security needs in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales. Our Board and senior level visits around the UK, complemented by our working-level partnerships across regional areas, ensure we understand and reflect differences, alongside areas of commonality. We have good relationships with the devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where private security is a devolved matter.

Our strategic plan also takes into account the current economic climate which is challenging for both individuals and businesses within the private security industry. We are alive to the fact that fees are generally paid for directly by individual licence holders who are working on a minimum or living wage. We passed on the efficiency gains we have made over the last year by reducing the licence fee to £184, effective from April 2023. This has been achieved through driving continuous improvement in our own operations to manage increased activity as licence volumes have continued to grow. Over the coming years, we are committed to keeping the licence fee as low as possible and continuing to prioritise our efficiency and effectiveness.

Our change plans will be tempered by available funding, from both licence fees and limited central government financial support in the form of capital funding. This particularly affects our digital and data transformation agendas; we have had to prioritise essential upgrades to the licensing and enforcement systems and action on cyber risks protection. We remain ambitious in our goals and will push ourselves to be innovative in finding solutions if funding is not available for other digital investment proposals.

As a government body, our strategy and its delivery are also rightly influenced by our commitment to support the priorities of the Home Secretary, the Safeguarding Minister, the Home Office and wider government priorities, as well as decisions they take. Our core purpose of public protection speaks directly to Ministerial and Home Office priorities on reducing terrorism, tackling crime, and protecting people in vulnerable situations. Our presence, reach and the visibility of our teams across all areas of the UK supports the levelling up agenda.

Following the Manchester Arena Inquiry, the SIA’s proposals for mandatory businesses licensing and extending inhouse security licensing for individuals are not being taken forward. We are disappointed but remain committed as the regulator to doing all we can within the existing legal framework and powers and influence we have to regulate robustly and improve public safety particularly in light of the findings of the Manchester Arena Inquiry and tragic events. This means that our work to fundamentally reset the voluntary approvals scheme for security businesses is more critical than ever. This work will now be the focus of and dominate our business standards work going forward. The need for steps to strengthen the legal framework within which we operate to give us improved enforcement and other powers so we can be more effective as a regulator is even more important now. We will also work with the Home Office to consider the recommendations in the recently published independent Review of the Disclosure and Barring Regime for enhanced criminal record checks for certain licensable activities. Other areas that will also impact on our work include the recommendations from the forthcoming Public Bodies Review of the SIA due in 2023, as well as centralised efficiencies requirements.

Finally, as we sign off this strategic plan for the next three years, its start marks exactly twenty years on from the establishment of SIA as the first regulator of private security. Security provision and the expectations on the SIA have changed in the last twenty years but public protection remains at our core as we approach an exciting and challenging chapter for the SIA. We recognise the dedication and professionalism of our own staff and their critical role in delivering our statutory functions and making this strategic plan’s aims a reality through timely, and effective delivery. Everyone within the SIA including our Board members, the senior leadership teams and ourselves, embark on this chapter with enthusiasm and commitment to deliver on it.

Michelle Russell, SIA Chief Executive and Heather Baily, SIA Chair.

Who we are

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is a public body reporting to the Home Secretary. We were established under the Private Security Industry Act 2001 to contribute to public protection by setting and improving standards in the regulated private security industry. The Act covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and the following activities:

• Cash and valuables in transit
• Close protection
• Door supervision
• Public space surveillance (CCTV)
• Security guarding
• Key holding
• Vehicle immobilisation (in Northern Ireland only)

What we do

We have a statutory responsibility to license individual security operatives. We do this by applying criteria relating to identity, conduct and criminality. We establish the minimum competency requirements that individuals must meet before applying for a licence.

We work closely with the police, local authorities and other government agencies to ensure that individuals and companies operating within the private security industry comply with the law. Our compliance and enforcement operations are part of this work. We work with training providers, trade associations and industry representatives on standards and the operation of our regime.

We set and approve standards for the entry level training required to hold an individual licence. We do this by specifying the learning for the qualifications needed. We require qualification awarding organisations to have robust standards of assessment and appropriate processes for the awarding of qualifications recognised for licensing. While we are not responsible for regulating the delivery of qualifications (Ofqual is), we collaborate with the UK’s regulatory qualifications bodies where there are threats to the quality of the qualifications.

We have a statutory responsibility to recognise those businesses wanting to meet standards. We do this by managing the voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme (referred to as ACS). We apply eligibility and other ‘fit and proper’ criteria, and we establish terms and conditions of approval. Independent assessing bodies conduct assessments against the ACS standard before awarding ACS approved contractor status.

We have compliance and inspection teams based and working across the UK visiting venues that provide and supply licensed security. They work with those individuals, businesses and venues to both raise standards and ensure the licensing requirements are met. They investigate concerns about non-compliance. In cases which are not resolved by advice, guidance, or formal warnings, we refer them for enforcement action to our criminal investigation team which, in appropriate cases, leads to prosecution. We have a financial investigation capability which means we can apply to the courts for confiscation orders against the assets of persons or businesses convicted of offences where they have profited from their crimes. We use the money we receive to support public safety and good causes for the benefit of the security industry.

We work closely with local and national police forces, local authority licensing partners, security providers, buyers and venue owners to understand, identify and successfully mitigate a broad range of public protection and safeguarding risks. These include terrorism, violence (including against women and girls), drugs and spiking, serious and organised crime, modern slavery, labour exploitation, and child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Our work is dependent on partnerships not just with the police and other public bodies, but increasingly with security providers. We seek, and continue to benefit from, the support and cooperation of those working in the private security industry and our many partners to provide effective regulation, and to pursue robustly those who choose not to comply.

Our strategic plan – our wider contribution

This document sets out what we will do to fulfil our statutory obligations and achieve our purpose. It makes clear how we support the Home Office in discharging its responsibilities of keeping the UK safe from the threat of terrorism and reducing and preventing crime, and ensuring people feel safe in their home and communities.

As an arms’ length body of the Home Office, our work directly contributes to its priorities to:

• protect vulnerable people and communities,
• cut crime and the harm it causes,
• reduce terrorism and
• provide world-class public services and contribute to prosperity.

Our work with the private security industry within the remit of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 supports and makes important contributions to all of these.

Protecting the public

In developing this strategic plan, we focused on our role in public protection and how what we do matters. Engaging with our own staff across the organisation underlined the importance of staff at the SIA understanding their role and provided the opportunity for them to explain in their own words how everyone in SIA is contributing to public protection.

There is a very clear understanding of what constitutes the ‘golden thread’ for SIA

Image 2: how our staff understands the 'golden thread' of public protection

Aside from our regulatory responsibilities, we also support the private security industry to play its role in protecting the public.

Image 3: how we support the private security industry to protect the public

Violence against women and girls is a major public safety issue. We are working with the industry to make an active contribution towards the government’s strategy including spiking. This builds on the important part the private security industry has historically played in the safety of the public in the night-time economy and at regulated events. Every licence holder provides an opportunity to identify and prevent harm. Everyone involved in the provision of security – licence holders, buyers, employers – has a role to play and a level of responsibility in protecting fellow citizens.

Our work in this area follows the policing model of prevention, intelligence and disruption. We will continue to engage with licence holders to enhance awareness and understanding of the issues. We will continue to reinforce the relevance and importance of their training and the standards of behaviour within that. Improving reporting to the police, sharing information and multi-agency working are key elements in capturing and using intelligence effectively. Where crimes are perpetrated, supporting the pursuit and prosecution of offenders is vital to women feeling safe, as is having trust in public services that this is a priority.

Reducing crime

This is an area where working with local and national partners is key. We will continue to work and build relations with other agencies to ensure effective collaboration on reducing crime. This includes working with regional organised crime units in England, building on the learning from our experience with the Scottish Crime Campus. It also includes continued participation in the Home Office’s Labour Abuse Steering Group and the Government Agency Intelligence Network. We continue to seek to formalise and improve our intelligence sharing arrangements with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Counter Terrorism Policing and the National Crime Business Centre. This will be complemented by internal improvements to intelligence gathering and the production of our strategic threat assessment to ensure our resources are being deployed optimally to impact criminal activity.

Our compliance and enforcement activity is also central in our contribution to reducing crime. Where individuals and businesses refuse to comply with the regulatory regime, we will take action to address that criminal activity.

Countering terrorism

The importance of the private security industry’s role in protecting the public is increasingly being realised. In the area of counter terrorism, security plays a deterrent and prevention role as well as potentially being the first to respond on site, supporting law enforcement. This is recognised by the National Protective Security Authority which has produced guidance for security staff in the form of short films. It is also complementary to the counter-terrorism e-learning we have supported development of, and which is now a mandatory part of entry level and top-up licence training. It provides licensed security operatives with greater knowledge and confidence to detect, deter, and/or disrupt potential terrorist activity.

Our contribution to reducing terrorism is also evident in the work we have undertaken over recent years in response to the Manchester Arena attack. We stand ready to support the industry in implementing Martyn’s law – the proposed Protect Duty. We will continue to work in partnership with Homeland Security in the Home Office, police and counter-terrorism agencies to support this aspect of public protection.

Serving the public

In this plan, we are placing equal priority on our strategic themes of regulating effectively and regulating efficiently. This is because they show how we contribute to providing excellent service and value for money to licence applicants, and the public we are accountable to. We continuously improve our licensing system so that it is efficient and user friendly. Our aim is to keep the licence fee as low as possible, balancing excellent service with a robust licensing regime.

We also contribute to other wider government priorities: having a UK-workforce supports the economic redistribution policy of levelling-up and the inclusion of right-to-work checks in our licensing process supports lawful immigration.

Our strategic plan – key changes and how we developed it

This plan reflects the strategic reset in 2022 when compliance and enforcement work was prioritised with a shift to greater visibility, risk-based and intelligence-led, supported by increased resource. Embedding this is evident in our strategic theme of regulating effectively.

A key influence for the changes evident in this strategy is the recognition that the private security industry is not homogenous. Its sub sectors and parts can be very different in specialism, focus and need. We need to remember that not everyone who holds a licence is employed by or works for a single security business or venue. Those who do might get or expect continued support, whilst for others we are their only constant contact point. We recognise we need to do more to help these individuals whilst not reducing support for our work and contact through security businesses. This is why we have two separate strategic themes on standards work now. There are plans to support individual licence holders under both improving individual standards and regulating effectively. However, we are also still committed to building better and more meaningful engagement with security membership bodies and businesses – large and small, from within and outside the Approved Contractor Scheme.

This strategic plan has been developed following engagement with stakeholders. We commissioned research in the summer of 2022 about public trust and confidence in the private security industry and drivers of it as well as about us as the regulator; we asked the Home Office and security bodies about what our priorities should be; we shared emerging themes at the Stakeholder Forum and listened to their priorities; and took into account the feedback about SIA’s role in public protection which involved our own people.

Our strategic plan has been developed recognising that individual licensing requirements and licensing systems are well developed, generally robust and do not need fundamental redesign. This does not detract from our commitment to make improvements based on user feedback and technological advances. Our strategic theme on regulating efficiently demonstrates our intent and ambition to drive down costs, keeping licence fees as low as possible in light of financial pressures alongside meeting stakeholder and customer expectations.

We are building our plans on work undertaken in recent years to set strategic directions on skills, data and digital, stakeholders, compliance, supervision and enforcement. That work provided a basis for moving the organisation forward and taking a longer-term, holistic approach to delivering our purpose. This strategic plan is supported by a three-year external communications strategy.

Early in the strategic period, in 2023, we are expecting to undergo a Public Bodies Review. This is a government programme which considers the expectations and performance of arms’ length bodies across efficiency, efficacy, accountability and governance. This is an opportunity to articulate the difference we are making to public protection but also to test our efficiency plans. We will need to consider the review’s recommendations and how they might affect our strategic direction and ambitions. The implementation of any recommendations will be reflected in our annual business plans.

None of this can be achieved without our own workforce, which is committed, talented and professional. Our work on public protection confirmed that everyone knows and understands their contribution to our purpose. We are committed to harnessing the talent and motivation of our workforce to achieve our purpose. Our strategic theme of supporting our people details how we will do this as without them nothing can be achieved for the industry or the public.

This strategic plan is for our partners, customers, the public, other stakeholders and our own people so that all understand our role as a regulator and the difference we seek to make over the next three years and beyond.

Our strategic themes

Regulating effectively

We will improve our effectiveness by focussing on improved public protection outcomes as we operate a robust, risk-based, licensing and compliance regime.

SIA regulation helps keep the public safe – and feeling safe – every day. From big sporting events to everyday shopping, SIA regulation ensures that the people looking after us are ‘fit and proper’.

Why this is important

Our regulatory approach is to help those in the private security industry who want to be compliant to be so but recognise that some individuals and organisations have no intention of complying with the law or basic public protection standards. Those individuals and businesses who are breaking the law, undermine the regulatory regime and public confidence in private security, creating inequality and unfair competition within the private security industry and ultimately, due to poor standards, threaten public protection. We will deal robustly and swiftly with these individuals and organisations: our intent is to both deter and proportionately sanction non-compliance.

Whilst there are generally high levels of compliance with the SIA licensing requirements in the private security industry, there is no room for complacency in protecting the public. In 2022 we agreed a new proactive approach to compliance, inspection and enforcement. We will continue to drive this approach – increasing our inspection footprint and visibility across the UK, carrying out both risk-based and intelligence led compliance and inspection activity. We will focus our proactive inspections on the areas of greatest threat, harm or vulnerability.

We will seize opportunities to target the impact of our compliance and inspection work to realise the investment made in increasing our work focused on better public protection outcomes. We will continue to provide assurance to the public that the overwhelming majority of security deployed to protect them, premises and property is licensed as they should be. We will feedback to security businesses and use other ways of sharing wider learning, good and poorer practices. However, we will also root out, disrupt, deter and sanction those who deliberately choose not to comply or who are negligent. We will continue to press for improved powers for our inspection work to enable us to do so effectively.

We will ensure the benefits of any new measures are clearly articulated and their introduction managed carefully and in consultation with the private security industry. Our ability to regulate effectively is informed by research and we commit to share the findings. Our effectiveness in our regulation – both licensing and enforcement – also relies on our collaboration with other law enforcement agencies and partner organisations. This is reflected in our work on driving strategic partnerships. Our effectiveness is also influenced by what we learn from listening to the individuals and businesses in the private security industry. Our stakeholder strategy provides the framework for how we do this and is key to ensuring we fulfil our purpose of protecting the public through effective regulation.

How we will do it

• Continue implementation of our new proactive approach to compliance, supervision and enforcement.
• Maximise the use of our existing powers and seek improvements to them to strengthen the essential toolkit we have to take swift and effective action against those who chose not to comply.
• Explore ways of making digital smart licences (subject to capital funding) a reality to minimise fraudulent licences and obtain real-time information, modernising how our field inspection officers – who are enforcing the regulatory regime – work and enabling the industry to be more compliant. This also includes ensuring we have the right technology and good digital tools for our field inspection officers.
• Maintain a continual review of the regulatory regime – ensuring any gaps between exemption areas are flagged to the Home Office, more widely understood and not exploited, and investigating any deregulation opportunities.
• Make continual improvements to our systems and processes which lead to more effective interactions with licence applicants and holders and more effective licensing decisions.

How we will know we have succeeded

• Improved compliance and enforcement of the Private Security Industry Act: deterring, disrupting and sanctioning.
• Better management of the interface between regulatory regimes on public protection, the risks they pose and the means of mitigating those risks.
• Improved our understanding of the private security industry: the individuals and businesses within it.
• Improved licensing regime.

Regulating efficiently

We will provide value for money for licence holders by spending well and being efficient in discharging our responsibilities and delivering our purpose.

Why this is important

Our commitment is to provide good value for money. We want to keep licence fees as low as possible whilst we carry out our role with impact and generate quality outcomes. We want the public and stakeholders to be assured that regulation is influencing security to play the role it should do in public protection.

We know that for many individuals subject to the licensing regime, wages are low (either minimum or living wage). Not all businesses pay for licences or the entry level training people have to undertake before they get a licence. Margins for security businesses can also be low as venues and buyers are still recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and face a challenging economic climate. We do not expect this to change for some time. We want to ensure that regulation of the security industry is not prohibitive or cumbersome and the cost does not unduly deter economic growth.

As a publicly funded body, it is incumbent upon us to be economic, efficient and effective. We have made good progress – achieving a three percent reduction in costs reflected in the recent licence fee reduction. However, we will continue to look for ways to be more efficient to keep the licensing costs down. We will continue to act on users’ feedback to continue improving our digital licensing processes, without compromising public safety. We need to balance ease of use with regulatory robustness, enabling most applicants to proceed with little or no need to contact us, whilst focussing the right level of effort on more complex applications.

Over the last year we have adopted a new approach to managing contact from applicants. We will refresh and refine these plans as we continue to make improvements to the systems and have a better of understanding of areas where we can help applicants ensure they get the right information to us first time to ensure the right decision (which could be rejection) is made as swiftly as possible.

We will also keep using technology to improve our service offering to our customers, stakeholders and staff: our data and digital plans will ensure this. A priority under this strategic plan is improvements to our compliance and enforcement systems to enable our workforce to fulfil their role more effectively. The introduction of smart licences (subject to Home Office capital funding) will modernise our operational inspections bringing efficiency and enhanced compliance, as well as benefits to the industry.

For every investment we make, large or small, we need to be clear on and quantify and demonstrate the benefit of that improvement. In this way we will deliver our statutory obligations and be clear on the difference we are making to public protection.

How we will do it

• Continue to work to the government’s functional standards and implement learning from the action plans derived to achieve the required compliance.
• Implement the data and digital strategy, prioritising:
  • essential and necessary cyber and outage risk protections
  • licensing improvements which yield tangible efficiency benefits
  • updating the technical systems we use for our compliance, decisions and enforcement work
  • smart licences, steps to improve digital access and use of register of licence holders, subject to funding
• Continue to refine our forecasting model and conduct annual licence fee reviews.
• Continue to target efficiencies through our procurement processes and effective contract management.
• Reduce our London office estate footprint.

How we will know we have succeeded

• Consistent, quality service availability for licence applicants and improved licensing process, evidenced by customer feedback.
• Sustainable, futureproofed technology and data systems underpinning the core licensing and compliance systems.
• A budget position of no more than 3% either way against the forecast, demonstrating a discipline of effective budget setting and management which incorporates delivery of efficiencies and passing on benefit to licence applicants.
• Break even over the three-year financial cycle and minimise any increase to the licence fee as a result of the historical surplus rebate scheme ending in March 2026.
• Achievement of required compliance against the government’s functional standards.

Improving individual standards

We will ensure entry training and behavioural standards keep pace with public expectations and support the private security industry in taking responsibility for improving training standards further.

Why this is important

The core legislative basis of the regulatory regime is one which ensures individuals who hold a licence are fit and proper to do so. For this reason, the licensing criteria and standards of prerequisite entry level training and behaviours set for those wanting to hold a licence are key to the integrity of the regime and its purpose of protecting the public.

Under our last strategy, we delivered a programme of significant change to the entry level training standards, focussed on public safety content and improving the quality of assessments. It also included top up training requirements for those choosing to renew their licence. The private security industry worked with us to develop those new standards and to increase the focus on security as a skilled profession.

Under this strategy, we want to harness that momentum and energy within the industry by supporting them to shape and implement training standards that go beyond and build upon those entry level ones required to gain a licence. It is right that this is industry led. The new skills strategy sets out the importance of continuous professional development and career pathways, enabled by centres of excellence and driven by an industry-led skills board. We will also explore the public protection benefits and need for devising SIA endorsed supervisory standards. Collectively this will ensure security operatives skills and knowledge continues to develop and trained individuals stay longer in the industry; ultimately benefiting security customers and the public, and reducing crime in the premises they are seeking to protect.

Recognising the increased public concern about predatory sexual behaviour and offences, we will continue to pay particular attention to this area when considering applications. We will continue to review every application where such behaviour and offences are identified to ensure that only those holding licences are fit and proper to do so.

We also want to find more incremental ways to keep coverage of those standards up to date on safety critical content. We stand ready to implement the extension of licensing for in-house security should the proposals made proceed so that training standards and checks are consistent.

Alongside standards and qualifications, behaviours are key to an industry which is professional and in which the public has trust and confidence. We recognise the diverse nature of employment in the industry and that a number of licence holders are not permanent employees of security businesses. We want to do more to ensure they can also build on the skills and knowledge they had from training and embed the behavioural standards and expectations signed up to when their licence was awarded.

We will support the industry’s aims on improved equality, diversity and inclusion to enable it to attract talent and understand the needs of the public it works to protect, mirroring our ambition to be an exemplar on these issues. Achieving these elements will enhance standards throughout an individual’s security career and position the industry to make an even greater impact on public protection.

How we will do it

• Support the industry-led Skills Board to lead on training and skills post entry level, using centres of excellence and a skills academy.
• Support industry-led standards setting for security specialisms through that skills academy and centres of excellence.
• Develop new ways of ensuring SIA set standards continually keep up and respond to updates where regulatory risks exist.
• Provide new guidance and resources on the core conduct behaviours and SIA expectations of licence holders, supporting the industry to supplement this itself by developing a code of conduct should it chose to do so.
• Support industry initiatives to improve the diversity in its workforce aligned to the customers its serves.

How we will know we have succeeded

• Parity of assurance that in house security are trained and checked to same levels as contracted security.
• Better public protection by ensuring updates to entry training standards we require for individuals are updated and implemented routinely.
• Improved public trust and confidence in the private security industry.
• Greater industry proactivity and leadership to improve public safety standards after obtaining a licence; an industry that is pushing itself to be better than the basic entry level requirements set by its regulator.
• Enhanced attractiveness of the industry to potential employees and balanced retention in private security as a valued career with an emphasis on continuous skills development and recognition of specialisms.

Improving business standards

We will work with the industry to improve the standards security businesses work to and promote the value of good standards in security provision.

Why this is important

Whilst we license individuals, and some will find employment in-house, security is often provided under contract by security businesses; we need to also recognise that businesses employ and deploy security in different ways depending on the circumstances.

The standards to which those businesses operate is therefore key to the credibility and effectiveness of the private security industry in protecting the public and public trust in the industry. Buyers and those setting buying standards rightly expect to take assurance that security companies are legitimate, fit and proper and competent to provide security services. Businesses which are in the voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme have demonstrated their ability to meet certain quality standards, based on customer requirements.

Our work under improving individual standards is aimed at ensuring a workforce that has the skills to do their job well. Our work under improving business standards is aimed at providing buyers and the public with the assurance that legitimate and quality companies want to distinguish their offering and can evidence their ability to operate to good standards. In fundamentally resetting and implementing a new voluntary standards scheme for security businesses, we will recognise the complexity and heterogenous nature of the security industry, and seek to harness the experience and knowledge within it to raise standards that improve public protection. As the only regulatory vehicle we have to improve standards in businesses, this will need to signal a significant change in how standards are defined for security businesses, ensuring public protection is at the heart of the new scheme.

We will also continue to work with legitimate businesses to root out security businesses and their owners that risk public safety by supplying unlicensed security.

How we will do it

• Promote the uptake of the current voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme amongst the private security industry, buyers and those that set buying standards.
• Implement a new voluntary business standards scheme which will see a fundamental reset of the existing scheme.
• Develop and implement a programme of work to persuade buyers of the value and importance derived from excellent security provision to them and for public protection.

How we will know we have succeeded

• A greater proportion of the market is secured by those businesses that demonstrate the appropriate standards.
• Venues and other buyers recognise and prioritise supply by good quality security businesses in the SIA business approvals scheme.
• Successful prosecution of non-compliant businesses and financial penalties deployed.
• Increased consistency and standards of service delivered by private security businesses.

Driving strategic partnerships

We will use our influence as a respected regulator and work jointly with key partners to secure compliance, drive higher standards and improved public confidence in private security provision.

The SIA works with police and other law enforcement agencies, and local authorities. Together, we use the information we hold to fight serious and organised crime, terrorism, human trafficking and more.

Why this is important

We are a small organisation, regulating over 400,000 licence holders deployed by businesses and relied on by users across the UK. We process thousands of applications a month. Some larger businesses process significant numbers of these. Our licensing processes are also dependent on steps completed by a number of third parties – including the Post Office and criminal records disclosure agencies (Disclosure and Barring Service, Disclosure Scotland and Access NI).

We do not provide or regulate the delivery of training and so we need to work with training providers and awarding organisations on qualifications and Ofqual. We work with local authority licensing, local and national police, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, Home Office Immigration Enforcement and others on our compliance, inspections and enforcement work. In addition, security businesses are in a position to inform the SIA about non-compliant activity. We are dependent upon these organisations to play their part in helping us operate an effective regulatory regime.

Recognising there are differences in laws, practices and priorities across the nations of the UK, we also work closely with the devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland alongside our sponsoring department, the Home Office.

We are aware from the work undertaken to develop our stakeholder strategy that we need to have a targeted and tailored approach when engaging with and listening to stakeholders. The private security industry is not a homogenous entity. It comprises many sectors, businesses are of different sizes and specialisms. It has several representative associations, works in a variety of environments and faces a range of challenges as a result. Building on our understanding of the sector we regulate is key to improving our effectiveness as a regulator and influencing positively.

We want to continue working with security and specialist trade and membership bodies, security businesses and others to drive compliance, improve standards, highlight the good work of private security, root out the bad and ultimately improve public protection and public trust and confidence in security to do so. To effect protection of people, premises and property and to deliver our regulatory regime, we need to work with many organisations and to do so at a strategic level to drive sustained effectiveness.

How we will do it

• Work with training stakeholders to drive up standards in the delivery of licence-linked training and assessments.
• Improve the quality and quantity of information feeds from the police, industry and other organisations that generate positive leads on non-compliance activity.
• Publicise and run joint work programmes with public bodies and private security sector on key public protection agenda issues where security has a key role to play – business crime, counter terrorism, violence and violent crime – including against women and girls and covering spiking.
• Build on better and meaningful engagement with security businesses on licensing issues and inspection results.
• Share positive stories of licensed, compliant and professionally deployed security to improve public confidence.
• Work with the industry through the main membership bodies and SIA’s Stakeholder Forum on agreed areas for partnership working.
• Work with the Local Government Association and others to influence local authorities and other public bodies to use security businesses in the SIA’s business approvals scheme.

How we will do this will also be reflected in a new external communications strategy which will underpin and support this strategy as a whole.

How we will know we have succeeded

• Improve integrity of the standards we set for training.
• Increased ability to proactively detect and effectively disrupt non-compliance and poor standards increases as better information feeds result in successful SIA compliance actions.
• Improved understanding and effectiveness of industry in achieving compliance with regulatory regime (and so greater public confidence and reduced public harm from non-compliance).
• Improved understanding of the way the private security industry operates.
• Influenced the public protection agendas where private security industry plays a critical role, achieving appropriate authority within our remit (crime, violence, women and girls’ safety, counter terrorism).
• Increased use of SIA scheme businesses by public sector bodies support contracting for security provision.

Supporting our people

We will support our employees to give their best, perform at the highest level, continually improve their skills and fulfil their potential to ensure that we meet our public protection aims and deliver high quality services.

Why this is important

We want the SIA to be an organisation where people want to work and give their best because they are valued, developed and motivated. This approach enables each person to deliver great performance which makes us an effective organisation, able to achieve successful outcomes for our stakeholders and the private security industry.

Our people strategy creates a coherent planned framework for employees to be recruited, managed and developed in ways that support the organisation’s long-term goals. Its delivery will ensure that the various aspects of people management work together to drive the behaviour and culture needed to create value and achieve our objectives.

We want to improve efficiency, effectiveness and productivity across our organisation. This involves having the right, reliable tools for staff to do their work. Our data and digital strategy incorporates key digital service improvements we will make for our people and their work, as well as those we will make for our customers and stakeholders.

We want an inclusive workforce where equality of opportunity and diversity of people – in the widest sense – are in our culture. This aligns to our value of “together, united”. Supporting equality, appreciating the value diversity brings and having an inclusive organisational culture are fundamental to the success of the SIA and its workforce. We want to lead by example and be a credible partner in supporting the private security industry to do the same.

All of this will help us deliver high quality services to protect the public and to improve how we achieve that.

How we will do it

• Develop and deliver an improved employee journey – including recruitment, induction, wellbeing support, our flexible working and the leavers’ process.
• Support our employees to realise their full potential, ensuring they have the tools, training and development to do their job well.
• Develop our approach to professional standards and integrity.
• Invest in the development of our managers and leaders, supporting succession planning.
• Explore how our people are fairly rewarded for their knowledge, experience and performance through pay and other reward and recognition approaches.
• Embed one inclusive culture through implementation of a new equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, role modelled by leaders and embedded at every level.
• Deliver a quality HR service for everyone, with systems, policies and other resources in place to support this.

How we will know we have succeeded

• An improved recruitment and induction experience, so the SIA attracts the right talent to achieve its objectives.
• Turnover is maintained at a targeted level through effective workforce and succession planning.
• Improved, consistent performance management drives increased personal responsibility for self-development.
• A good leadership and line management cadre with the requisite knowledge and skills, supported by aspiring, motivated staff.
• Staff are aware of and compliant with the organisation’s code of conduct.
• Line managers are equipped with the requisite knowledge and skills and uphold the SIA values and standards of behaviour.
• Employees are and feel fairly rewarded for their knowledge, experience and performance.
• An inclusive workforce, fully reflective of both the customers it serves and the public it is accountable to, with improved employee satisfaction.
• The HR service is consistent and easily accessible.

Delivering our strategy – accountability

This strategy provides the basis for our annual business plans during the period, ensures we keep focussed and on track to deliver our longer-term goals. It will also help us make considered choices about priorities and deployment of resources when new, unforeseen asks or challenges arise later.

We have developed key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and measure our success each year. We are held to account for delivery against KPIs and this plan by the Minister, the Home Office (as our sponsoring department) and ultimately those we regulate and the public.

The SIA Board will monitor and track progress of delivery of the strategic plan by the organisation and its executive. It will be assisted by its committees (the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and the People Committee). Our Board level governance is complemented by a number of executive and advisory groups on different aspects, covering knowledge and information security, health and safety, senior leadership, and equality, diversity and inclusion. We have adopted the government functional standards across all relevant areas, including project and programme management.

Scrutiny by the industry itself takes many forms including through stakeholder meetings, the Stakeholder Forum, special interest groups, a national conference and various industry events.

The business plans we produce for each financial year will include information about delivery against each priority for that year and how we will use our resources to achieve those plans. Our business plans will provide details of the work we will be doing, the projects we have in place and how we will measure our success.

Delivering our strategy – dependencies and enablers

As well as our people, the delivery of our core statutory functions and this strategy depends on a number of key enablers – including finances (capital grant and fees), data, and technology.

Finances and resources

At the time of writing, we are an organisation with a workforce of around 400 people, funded from the licence fees charged. The stability, capacity and capability of our workforce is a critical enabler and dependency to delivery.

As a public body, our funding and expenditure must comply with the Private Security Industry Act 2001 as well as government requirements set out in Managing Public Money. We need to ensure we deliver our statutory functions and strategic priorities funded by the fees that we charge to businesses and individuals. Due to the three-year licence period and variations in licensing volumes each year, the achievement of full cost recovery occurs over our three-year business planning cycle and its pattern of licensing and approvals. In the three-year cycle covering 2023-26, the profile is for year one to break even, year two to generate a surplus and year three to be a deficit. The Approved Contractor Scheme is funded by the fees charged to member businesses.

Our capital allocation is bid for annually and approved by the Home Office; capital projects are therefore only possible with funding from a Home Office grant. For 2023-24, a capital allocation of £1.5m has been provisionally approved; our capital forecast for 2024-25 is £2.25m and for 2025-26 it is £2.55m.

Risks

As the public would expect, we have a low appetite for any risks that may impact on delivery of our core statutory objectives. Our risk identification and management focuses on those areas which would have the greatest impact on our ability to deliver our core statutory objectives and our strategic plan.

These are:

• public protection
• delivery
• capability and capacity
• confidence, trust and reputation
• financial health
• change

The strategic risks we have identified correlate with the dependencies we have and reflect both internal and external factors which require careful management.

These include:

• insufficient capital funding and/or fee income to deliver planned activities
• external partners who are not able or willing to work in partnership or deliver to the timeline on which our plans are based
• stability, capacity and capability of the SIA workforce
• management and delivery of transformation and programme change
• governance of delivery
• failures in technology and weaknesses in the capture, management and storage of data
• unexpected external events and demands which restrain or prevent delivery

We will continue to be proactive and robust in our identification and management of risk. We will be tenacious in applying controls and progressing actions to mitigate those risks to optimise delivery of this strategic plan.