SIA licence renewal
The Security Industry Authority licence runs for three years and has to be renewed before it expires, because the date is on the card and unlicensed work is an offence.
For security guards
The licensing and reporting year of a security guard
A licence that renews every three years, instructions that change per site and a log that has to survive a complaint.
No account needed to see the proposed desk.
The recurring work
What security guards have to keep on top of
Every one of these has a date attached, a document behind it, and somebody who notices when it slips. This is what goes on the desk.
First aid certificate
The first aid certificate is refreshed on its own cycle, and sites and employers ask for the current one before allocating shifts.
Door supervision and CCTV endorsements
Where the work involves licensed premises or public space cameras, the licence needs the door supervisor or CCTV operator endorsement, and each has its own renewal.
Site assignment instructions
Each site's assignment instructions and patrol route are read and signed, and they are reissued whenever the client changes the procedure.
Patrol and incident reports
Every patrol is logged and every incident is written up on the shift it happened, because the report is what stands up weeks later.
Vetting and screening records
Background screening records are held and rechecked on the cycle the client's contract sets, with gaps in employment accounted for.
Radio and equipment checks
Radios, body cameras and keys are checked at the start of each shift and any failure is reported and recorded before the shift continues.
Control room and keyholder records
Key issue and return and the control room's log are recorded shift by shift, since lost keys and missing logs both become the guard's problem.
Training refreshers
Conflict management, physical intervention and counter terrorism awareness training are refreshed on their own cycles and the certificates are dated.
What it costs to carry it
A guard's shift ends and the paperwork begins, and it is the part nobody sees. The licence date is the hard one: three years go by, a renewal needs a fee and a photograph, and anyone working past the expiry date is working without a licence. The rest is quieter - a patrol log with a gap in it, an incident written up from memory a week later, a screening record nobody updated when the contract changed.
What the desk takes over
The desk works this list to its own schedule and reports what it did.
Licence and certificate tracker
The desk holds each licence, endorsement and certificate with its expiry date and warns well before the renewal is due.
Site instruction file
The desk keeps each site's current instructions, patrol route and any amendments, with a record of when they were read.
Report drafting
The desk drafts the incident report and the daily occurrence entries from the shift notes so nothing has to be written up from memory.
Screening dates
The desk tracks when each check was completed and when it is next due, and flags a gap before it becomes a problem on site.
Equipment records
The desk logs radio, key and camera checks per shift and keeps the faults in one list until they are fixed.
What stays with the security guard
The guard makes the decisions on the ground: who is challenged, when to call it in and what to do at the door. That judgement cannot be written down in advance, and the desk only keeps the record of it.
Questions
Can the desk renew an SIA licence?
No. The application, the fee and the identity checks are the licence holder's own, so the desk tracks the expiry date and warns early enough to start the renewal.
What happens if a licence lapses while shifts are booked?
The guard cannot lawfully work those shifts, so the date matters more than almost anything else. The desk treats the expiry as a hard deadline with early warnings.
Are the site instructions different for every site?
They are set by the client for each site and change when the client's procedure changes. The desk keeps the current version for each site and records when it was read.
Put the security guard's recurring work on the desk
Start with a name, a website and one sentence about what the business does. The desk proposes the list; the security guard corrects it.