Doorstaff crisis reaches breaking point

Questions about the looming crisis facing pubs and clubs employing doorstaff are to be raised in the House of Commons next week - just six days before the new licence takes effect across the country.​ The law is to come into force in London next Monday (April 11), meaning every door worker in England and Wales will need to be licensed after that date. But fewer than a quarter of the nation's 100,000 doorstaff are believed to have received the Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence so far.

Now Eric Illsley, MP for Barnsley South, has called a Commons debate on the issue on April 5. "I will be arguing for three things," Mr Illsley told The Publican. "That there must be a less intransigent line from the SIA on enforcement, that anyone who has applied for the licence should be exempted from prosecution, and that the April 11 deadline should be extended to give doorstaff more time to comply."

Door workers' union FEDS is pressing ahead with plans to take the SIA to the High Court over its strict criteria for awarding licences (The Publican, March 14).

Andy Walker, chief executive of FEDS, said the SIA was taking too long to handle licence applications. "There aren't enough police in the country to shut down all the pubs and clubs that won't have licensed doorstaff after April 11," he said.

However, SIA spokesman Robert Buxton said: "If someone sends in a form it is vetted and checked, and if there is a problem it is sent back within 48 hours."

Publicans which fail to ensure doorstaff are licensed face fines, or a possible prison sentence.