SIA steps up doorstaff licensing

By John Harrington

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Summer olympic games Olympic games 2008 summer olympics

Doorstaff must be SIA registered to work
Doorstaff must be SIA registered to work
The body that regulates doorstaff processed 30% more licence applications than planned in the past year due to improved procedures.

The body that regulates doorstaff processed 30% more licence applications than planned in the past year due to improved application procedures.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) also revealed plans to simplify the licensing process for doorstaff — including having on-line applications — and to react to an expected rise in demand due to the economic downturn and the 2012 Olympics.

In its new Corporate and Business Plan 2009/10 to 2011/12, the SIA said it "continued to improve the process" for considering applicants' right to work.

The group has had right-to-work checks since 2008, following the revelation that illegal immigrants had been able to get SIA licences. The new report says: "We processed 30% more licence applications than planned."

The report also reveals that the SIA processed 85% of licence applications within 33 working days this year — its target was 80%.

The SIA will have achieved £37m gross income, and generated a surplus of around £2.9m, by the end of this financial year. It predicts the surplus will be spent in 2009/2010 due to the higher volume of applications.

Plans for the next three years include establishing on-line applications and improving customer response times to 95% within 30 seconds.

The report says there's a potential for increased demand" for security staff due to the "possible casual link between the economic downturn and the increased risk of crime".

In response, it promised a "more robust" process for forecasting demand, more flexibility in staffing "to deal with potential surges" in applications, and faster criminal records and right-to-work checks.

The SIA is also "considering initiatives to support heightened demand" before and during the London 2012 Olympics. And it will keep a "watching brief" on developments in biometrics.

On enforcement, the SIA is to implement "new and improved compliance and intelligence systems". Activity will focus on "where there is a greatest risk of non-compliance" and where there's a greatest risk to public protection.

Related topics Licensing law

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