Two threads this week. One is small and physical: a locker audit that found twelve keys nobody was tracking. The other is much bigger: the SIA has confirmed it is replacing the Approved Contractor Scheme and grading firms on quality, not just paperwork. Both come down to the same habit. Check what you assume is fine.
🗞️ THIS WEEK IN UK SECURITY
The SIA Just Cut Off a Major Training Body, Mid-Course
Ofqual has stopped BIIAB registering new learners on its Door Supervisor, Door Supervisor Refresher and Security Officer qualifications from 2 July, over serious standards concerns. Those three courses issued nearly 25,000 certificates last year, over 90% of BIIAB’s private security output. Learners already registered can continue under extra controls, but anyone booking new training should check the SIA course finder first, not assume last year’s provider still qualifies.
Separately, a joint Metropolitan Police and MI5 investigation saw a 22 year old sentenced to 13 and a half years at the Old Bailey on 8 July, for planning an extreme right wing terrorist firearms attack after being radicalised online from the age of 14.
Bottom line: check your training provider against the SIA’s live course finder before you book, not after.
📋 COMPLIANCE CORNER
ACS Is Being Retired. The Bar Just Went Up.
The SIA’s business plan for 2026-27, published 7 July, confirms it is replacing the Approved Contractor Scheme with a new Business Approval Scheme, built so it can move into mandatory business licensing later if ministers agree. Inspections are rising alongside it: a 30% increase in training centre checks, at least four national compliance operations, and 250 risk-led business inspections this year. The regulator’s own words: it is judging quality now, not just compliance.
An auditor, or a BAS assessor, will want to see how your firm evidences quality. The ACS certificate alone will not be enough.
Key takeaway: start building the evidence file for quality, not just the licence file, before BAS pilots land in spring 2027.
🔧 OPERATIONAL TIP
The Locker That Was Never Free
A while back we ran our first full locker audit. No key-return step existed for leavers, so keys just accumulated: new starters could not be issued a locker because none showed as free. The audit found 24 lockers needing extra or spare keys, some with owners who had left months earlier. Freed up twelve in total, seven straight away.
Fix: a locker audit reclaims space once. A leaver key-return step stops it drifting again.
🔗 WORTH KNOWING
The SIA wants venues and events to help test its Martyn’s Law digital platform and pilot inspections before enforcement lands in spring 2027. Free prep resources are already live: the Home Office’s section 27 statutory guidance and ProtectUK’s ACT Awareness e-learning.
Thanks for reading. If you found this useful, forward it to one colleague who’d benefit — that’s how this grows.
Until next Tuesday.
Documents I use on shift: the Key Register and the Daily Occurrence Book. BS 7499 aligned, edit and ship same day. Both from SecureDocUK.
Andras
Control Room Supervisor & Deputy Security Operations Manager
The Control Room