DOOR SECURITY LEGISLATION

Background

All door supervisors in England and Wales (and Scotland from the end of 2007) must hold an SIA (Security Industry Authority) licence. Working without a licence is a criminal offence, punishable on conviction by a fine of up to £ 5,000 or 6 months imprisonment or both.

Two types of licence

There are two types of licence:

• Front-line licence: – for door supervisors (including publicans who supervise doors).
• Non front-line licence: for some publicans, managers, supervisors and directors or partners of security companies.

Important note: If you act as a door supervisor yourself, you must hold a ‘front-line’ licence. If you employ door supervisors and pay their wages, you must hold a ‘non front-line’ licence.

If you use contracted-in door supervisors provided by an agency, and do not work as a door supervisor yourself, you do not need a licence.

SIA qualifications

To get the SIA qualification, door supervisors need to attend a 2-part training course and take and pass two exams. The course is usually delivered over 4 days, during weekends and/or evenings. The total training time is 30 hours, and includes two hours of exams.

Training is delivered in two parts as follows:

• Part 1: Role and responsibilities of a door supervisor (14 hours).
• Part 2: Communication skills and conflict management (14 hours).

Where someone has already completed a training course and holds a qualification in door supervision, they may be exempt from all or part of the training required for an SIA licence.

Obtaining more information

You can obtain more information via the Security Industry Authority (SIA) website at: www.the-sia.org.uk