Legal advice: Check your dates for SIA

by Rebecca Caws of thePublican.com's team of legal experts from London solicitor Joelson Wilson.​We have previously written about the proposed transitional process under the Private Security Industry Act. Door supervisors are to be the first sector within the private security industry which will be licensed under that new legislation.SIA licences will be required with effect from the dates shown in the right hand column of the table (see below).The earliest dates from which applications might be lodged are as set out in the left hand column.After the relevant date from which an SIA licence is required in each respective area, it will be unlawful for anyone to work as a door supervisor without such a licence and locally-issued licences, badges and registration schemes will cease to be valid.Although applications for licences cannot be made until the respective commencement dates for submission of applications, intending applicants can register their details at www.the-sia.org.uk/register or by phoning the Security Industry Authority on 08702 430 100.Hampshire & the Isle of Wight has apparently been chosen as the first area for the licensing scheme, in view of the fact that it encompasses both urban and rural locations and because it has a "rich mixture of licensed premises". The story goes that, in another part of the country, advance research has actually indicated that as many as 40 per cent of the doorstaff currently registered with the local authority will fail to meet the application criteria for an SIA licence. If this is correct, and the same situation is found to exist elsewhere, your industry could really be facing a looming crisis.Licence dates​