SIA confirms training will still be required for some licence renewals.

From Tuesday 1 April 2025, door supervisors and security guards must undertake refresher training to renew their licence.

The new ‘refresher’ qualifications will be available from awarding organisations from 1 October 2024. The qualifications update safety-critical skills door supervisors and security guards use to keep the public safe. The SIA is encouraging affected licence holders to take the training as soon as possible.

Individuals holding a door supervisor licence can choose one of the following options:

• Take the door supervisor refresher training and renew their door supervisor licence
• Take the security guard refresher training and switch to a security guard licence

In either case, they must have an up-to-date Emergency First Aid at Work qualification, or equivalent, before they can take the refresher training.

A new first aid qualification for security officers will be updated to include content recommendations from the Manchester Arena Inquiry on dealing with traumatic bleeds.

SIA raises standards

In April 2021 the SIA raised the standards for licence-linked qualifications for door supervisors and security guards. Accredited ‘top-up’ awards were introduced for door supervisors and security guards in October 2021.

By October 2024, all existing door supervisor and security guard licence holders will be qualified to the same standard.

Tony Holyland, Head of Individual Standards for the SIA said: “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”.

Alongside the Emergency First Aid content, the following will be in the refresher training:

For Door Supervisors

• Conducting searches
• Physical intervention
• Protecting people in vulnerable situations, including content on spiking
• Terror threat awareness – Act/You can Act certificate

For Security Guards conducting searches

• Protecting people in vulnerable situations, including content on spiking
• Terror threat awareness – Act/You can Act certificate

The new refresher training will be available from October and will become mandatory for licences renewed after 1^st April 2025. This six-month period is the same period of transition as last time to allow industry, training providers and individual licence holders sufficient time to plan, budget and implement the new requirements to ensure that they are ready for when the new training becomes mandatory.

Further updates on implementation will be provided in the coming weeks. 

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