Check if you can get an SIA licence with a criminal record
How to check if your criminal record will affect your licence application, and the information you need to provide for our criminality checks.
When you apply for an SIA licence, we will check your UK criminal record.
We may also ask you to provide evidence of criminal record checks from other countries. We will do this if:
- you live outside the UK
- you have spent 6 continuous months or more outside of the UK in the last 5 years
We check your criminal record so that we can decide if you are suitable to hold a licence.
Use our criminal record indicator to check if you can get a licence
You can use our criminal record indicator to see whether you will pass our criminality checks. You need to pass these checks to get an SIA licence.
The indicator follows the same process our licensing team follows when making their decision.
The result you get from the indicator will be based on the information you enter. It does not guarantee the result of the criminality check that we will conduct when you apply for a licence.
Use the criminal record indicator.
How we check your UK criminal record
We check your UK criminal record by sending a ‘disclosure request’ to 1 of the following organisations:
- Access Northern Ireland (AccessNI)
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
- Disclosure Scotland
These are the 3 official organisations that can ‘disclose’ (show) criminal history information from UK records.
The organisation we use will depend on where you have lived in the last 5 years. We ask for your address history when you apply for a licence.
We use AccessNI if you:
- currently live in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland
- have lived in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland in the last 5 years
We use the DBS if you currently live:
- in England or Wales (unless you have lived in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland in the last 5 years, in which case we use AccessNI)
- outside of the UK
We use Disclosure Scotland if you currently live in Scotland (unless you have lived in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland in the last 5 years, in which case we use AccessNI).
Each organisation has a different process that we must follow. If we use:
- AccessNI, we ask you to apply online for a ‘standard check’ through AccessNI
- the DBS, we arrange the check for you
- Disclosure Scotland, we ask you to complete a disclosure request form and then send it to us so that we can sign it and send it on to Disclosure Scotland
What we look at when we check your criminal record
We check your criminal record so we can decide if you are suitable to hold a licence.
You may still be able to get an SIA licence even if you have criminal offences on your record.
We look for things that show you might be a risk to the public, or that you are not suitable to work in the private security industry for another reason, such as dishonest behaviour.
For example: if your record shows offences such as assault or grievous bodily harm, this may demonstrate a pattern of violent behaviour. This would make you unsuitable to work in the private security industry, which can sometimes involve dealing with hostile members of the public.
We take into account:
- whether your offences are relevant to the work of a security operative
- how recent your offences were
- any ‘sentences’ you were given for your offences (these are punishments given to you in court)
- any ‘disposals’ you were given for your offences (these are penalties given to you outside of court, such as a caution or a fine from a police officer)
So, if you have a single offence on your record from a long time ago and you were given a fine, we might still grant you a licence. If you were given a prison sentence then we might not grant you a licence. And if your record shows more recent offences, or multiple offences over a number of years, then it is unlikely that we would give you a licence.
The offences we think are relevant
Certain offences are relevant to whether we think that you are suitable to hold a licence. These are usually in the following categories:
- abuse or neglect of children
- criminal damage
- dishonesty (theft and fraud)
- drug offences
- espionage
- firearms offences
- offensive weapons
- private security offences
- proceeds of crime offences
- sexual offences
- social security offences
- terrorism
- violent and abusive behaviour
We can look at spent convictions
In most cases, we can look at all the criminal offences on your record. This includes any ‘spent convictions’. These are convictions you do not usually have to tell people about after a certain period of time. We are legally allowed to look at spent convictions because we have a duty to consider the safety of the public.
If you have charges that have not yet gone to court
When you apply for a licence, you must tell us if there are any outstanding charges against you.
This is when the police have accused you of an offence, but a court has not decided yet whether you are guilty of the offence.
If you have outstanding charges against you, we will ask you for evidence we can use to decide if the offences are relevant to your licence application. The evidence could be a solicitor’s letter or a court document. It needs to show:
- all of the offences you were charged with
- when your case is due in court
If any of the offences are relevant, we may wait until the court has decided if you are guilty of the offences. Then we will decide about your application.
If the charges against you are still outstanding 1 year after you applied for a licence, we will withdraw your application. We recommend that you wait until the court has made a decision about your case before starting a new application.
If you are under investigation
When you apply for a licence, you must tell us if any public body is investigating you for any relevant offence.
If you are under investigation, we will ask you for evidence we can use to determine when the matter will be resolved. The evidence could be a letter from a solicitor or the investigating body, setting out the stages or expected duration of the investigation.
We may wait until the investigation is concluded before before making a decision on your application.
If the investigation has not concluded 1 year after you applied for a licence, we will withdraw your application.
If you have a conviction that relates to the conflict in Northern Ireland
When you apply for an SIA licence, we take into account all relevant criminal offences to decide if you are suitable to hold a licence.
If you have any convictions for offences that relate to the conflict in Northern Ireland between 1969 and April 1998, we will take this into account in line with guidance from the Executive Office of the Northern Ireland Executive. This says that “any conviction for a conflict-related offence that pre-dates the Good Friday Agreement (April 1998) should not be taken into account unless it is materially relevant to the employment being sought”.
Our criminal record checks will not tell us if any of your past convictions relate to the conflict in Northern Ireland, so we may initially propose to refuse your licence application based on our criminality criteria.
We will write to you if we propose to refuse your application. You can then tell us your convictions relate to the conflict in Northern Ireland. You must do so within 21 days of receiving our letter. If you do not, we will refuse your licence application.
We will need to confirm what you say with the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service (NICTS). We will ask you for your signed consent to request this information from the NICTS.
If we ask you for a criminal record check from another country
If you live outside the UK, you need to provide evidence of a criminal record check from the country you live in.
If you have spent any periods of 6 continuous months or more outside the UK in the last 5 years, you will need to provide evidence of a criminal record check for each country you spent time in during each of these periods.
Each criminal record check must be from an official source within the relevant country. This will usually be a government organisation. The UK’s Home Office provides information on who to contact.
Personal details on the documents you provide must match the details you gave us in your application. For example, your name on the document must match the name(s) you gave us.
It may take time for you to get these checks done. We will not be able to make a decision on your application without them. If you can, we recommend getting these checks done before you submit your licence application.
You can give us your service record instead
If appropriate, you can provide an extract from your military service record instead of providing criminal record checks from other countries. Read more about previous service in the armed forces.
If your criminal record check documents are not in English
The documents that show your overseas criminal record checks may not be in English. If so, you need to provide us with both of the following:
- the original documents
- an English-language translation of the documents
You need to arrange the translation of the documents into English and pay any costs.
We only accept translations from the following:
- embassies, high commissions or consulates
- translators who are accredited by the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and hold qualified or corporate membership
- translators who are fellows (FCIL) or members (MCIL) of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL)
- translation companies that are accredited by the Association of Translation Companies (ATC) and hold full or overseas membership
If you cannot get a check from an official source
You may be unable to provide us with evidence of an overseas criminal record check.
This could be because:
- the government of the country has collapsed
- there is a risk to your personal safety, or that of your family, if you contact the country’s government
- the country will not provide a criminal record check to someone who does not live there
- you are a refugee
In this situation, you can ask us for an exception. We will give you this option after you submit your licence application. You need to explain why you cannot get an overseas criminal record check. If we approve your request we will send you forms to complete and return to us.
The forms will ask you for 3 things:
- A sworn oath.
- A letter confirming that the sworn oath is genuine.
- A character reference.
You must not send these to us unless we have agreed to give you an exception.
Your character reference should be from someone who knew you personally during the time you lived outside the UK. It should not be from a member of your family. This includes people who are related to you by marriage.
The reference must be from someone in one of the following occupations:
- accountant
- barrister or solicitor
- chairman or director of a limited company
- commissioner for oaths
- dentist (registered with the General Dental Council)
- doctor (registered with General Medical Council)
- local councillor
- Justice of the Peace
- Member of Parliament
- officer of the armed services (active or retired)
- warrant officer or chief petty officer
- police officer
- teacher / lecturer (PGCE or equivalent qualified)
If you have refugee status in the UK and you cannot provide a character reference from someone on the list above, we may accept a character reference from:
- a UK refugee support worker
- a UK asylum caseworker
- a UK social worker
People in these 3 roles do not need to have known you during the time you lived outside the UK. However, they will need to know you well enough to answer the questions on the form.
We will thoroughly check all character references.
If you are or were serving in the armed forces overseas
You will need to provide evidence of an overseas criminal record check from an official source if:
- you live outside the UK
- you have spent 6 continuous months or more outside of the UK in the last 5 years
However, if you are or were serving in the armed forces while being outside the UK, you can provide an extract from your military service record instead.
This applies if you served in the British armed forces or in another country’s armed forces.
The extract from your military service record must:
- state that it covers all of the periods within the past 5 years during which you were outside the UK for 6 continuous months or more and serving in the military
- show any criminal convictions you received during this time
- be from a clearly identified source we can contact if we need to
If you cannot give us this information, you should let us know. We will work with you to sort out the problem.
If you are or were in the British armed forces, you can ask for information about yourself from the Ministry of Defence.
Last updated 20 March 2023 + show all updates
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Updated the list of occupations in the 'If you cannot get a check from an official source' section so that it matches the list already presented in our 'Sworn oath and character reference forms and guidance'.
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Updated to more closely align with the wording used in Get Licensed.
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Updated the 'If we ask you for a criminal record check from another country' section. The update provides a link to helpful information published by the Home Office.
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Added the 'If you are under investigation' section.
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First published.