Tim Archer, Director of Licensing and Standards explains why we’re updating our criminality criteria and how the changes will impact our licensing decisions.
We are introducing important changes to our criminality criteria for licensing decisions, which will come into effect on 1 December 2025. These changes will affect how we assess criminality when making decisions about granting, renewing, suspending or revoking SIA licences.
With just days remaining until the new criteria take effect, it’s important that licence holders, applicants, and employers in the industry understand what’s changing and how it may impact them. Whether you’re applying for a new licence, seeking to renew an existing one, or employing licensed security operatives, these changes represent a significant update to our approach to assessing criminality.
In this blog, I want to explain what’s changing, why we’re making these changes, and what they mean for you.
The criteria we use to assess applications for SIA licences is set out in the document Get Licensed. We use this statutory guidance to determine whether someone is fit and proper to hold an SIA licence.
We consulted on proposed changes to the criteria in March 2025, and following that consultation, these changes have now been approved by our minister. They take effect on 1st December 2025.
The changes we’re making:
- Adding new, additional offences to the list of offences that the SIA considers relevant for licencing decisions, including modern slavery, people trafficking and ‘upskirting’ offences.
- Tightening up the rules around refusing a licence where an applicant has any criminal record that includes a sexual offence, child abuse or neglect offence, or a prison sentence of more than 48 months. We already look closely at the risks of applications involving these offences, and we’re going to refuse all such applications in future unless the applicant can convince us that they are not a public protection risk.
- Taking a tougher approach to custodial sentences of more than 12 months, where additional checks and mitigation will be required to demonstrate that the applicant is fit and proper to hold a licence. This process is known as Consider Additional Factors and is currently used when an applicant has certain criminality, including a custodial sentence of more than 48 months.
- Requiring applicants who have lived overseas for more than 6 continuous months in the last ten years to provide an overseas criminal record check when they apply for an SIA licence. At present, this requirement only covers the last five years. This brings us into line with criminality checks for issuing UK visas where someone will be working in education, health or social care.
- Making clearer the broad range of information we may take into account when deciding whether someone is ‘fit and proper’ to be granted a licence – for example domestic violence orders or being subject to misconduct or other disciplinary proceedings.
These changes will bring our criteria up to date, with the inclusion of new relevant offences whilst also further toughening and tightening our approach to criminality and providing greater transparency for applicants and licence holders on our wider fit and proper test that they must meet.
Our consultation earlier in the year received over 3,000 responses and demonstrated very strong support for these enhancements to our licensing criteria. Following the consultation the SIA board agreed the changes which were then subject to, and received, ministerial approval.
Our current robust licensing processes help ensure public trust and confidence in the private security industry. These changes will further strengthen our licensing processes and support our drive to improve standards within the industry.
All licence applications decided from 1st December 2025 will be subject to these new criteria. Whilst only a small number of applicants will be directly affected by these changes, they will have a positive impact on the trust and confidence that members of the public and other stakeholders can have in the standards of security operatives as they go about their work of protecting people, property and premises.
Of course, the criminality checks as set out in Get Licensed are just one part of the checks that we conduct in deciding whether to grant a licence or not. Before applicants can apply they need to complete the required licence linked qualification and provide relevant evidence that they have an up to date first aid qualification and have undergone terror threat awareness training. Security operatives are very often the first person on the scene in the event of an incident, so ensuring that they have the appropriate skills to be able to respond to emergencies is essential.
Making sure that all these requirements are met, alongside identity checks and confirmation of right to work status, is important to provide assurance that there is appropriate rigour in the licensing regime. This in turn means that we can all have confidence in the integrity, ability and knowledge of those that are there to protect people, property and premises.
Read the findings of the consultation and more details about the changes.
