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By Abbey Petkar, Managing Director, Magenta Security – and elected member of the S12 Security Guarding Leadership Group
I want to be clear about where the views in this article come from. I am an elected member of the S12 Security Guarding Leadership Group, a body of security industry leaders that works with the Home Office, the Security Minister and the Security Industry Authority to develop better standards across the industry. Not everything the S12 discusses is in the public domain, so I will stick to what is. Where I give an opinion, it is my own, not an official S12 position.
Currently, any company can set up as a security business in the UK. Individual guards must hold a personal SIA licence, but the company itself faces no mandatory licensing or quality threshold. This creates a structural problem: a company with no accreditation, no management systems, and no meaningful quality assurance can legally supply security services as long as its guards hold individual licences.
The consequence is a market with enormous quality variation, regular incidents of labour exploitation and clients who discover problems only after something goes wrong. Mandatory business licensing would close this gap – requiring companies to meet a defined threshold to operate at all, rather than leaving quality certification as a voluntary differentiator.
Mandatory business licensing is one of the areas the S12 is working on. The Group has existed for around a year and runs its work through open workstreams that anyone in the industry can contribute to. On business licensing, the S12 is researching what the wider industry wants and building support for the idea. There is some support for it, but nothing is set in stone.
Alongside this, the SIA is working on a Business Approval Scheme (BAS). In my view, BAS is a halfway house between today’s voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme and the business licensing the S12 wants to see. Like licensing, it would require new legislation, so it is also some way off.
You may have seen business licensing described as just around the corner. It isn’t. It still has to go through its government phases, and in my own opinion we are unlikely to see anything in place for at least two years. Buyers should not plan on the basis that it is about to land.
What I do believe is that business licensing is the future for the industry and the direction is already visible in things happening now. HMRC is taking a closer interest in the security industry, including rogue operators and companies that phoenix to avoid paying their taxes. And Martyn’s Law – the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 – becomes a legal requirement for qualifying premises and events from April 2027. Each of these raises the cost of working with a provider that cuts corners.
The good news for buyers is that you don’t need to wait for legislation to apply a higher standard. The voluntary schemes that exist today are the best indicator of whether a provider operates properly: NSI Gold, where they sit in the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme, a directly employed workforce and adequate insurance. A provider that cannot evidence those today is a supply chain risk today – whatever happens with licensing.
The sensible steps are: audit your current provider’s accreditation level, employment model and insurance position; if your premises fall within scope of Martyn’s Law, ask how your provider is helping clients prepare for April 2027; understand your contract exit and review terms; and, if there is material doubt about your provider’s standards, begin a market review on your own timetable rather than waiting for regulation to force the issue.
Magenta already operates to the standard I believe the whole industry should be held to: NSI Gold across four service categories top 5% SIA ACS, directly employed workforce and £10 million+ public liability insurance. We did not build to the minimum and we are not waiting for legislation to tell us where the bar should be.
“It’s coming, be ready” is a phrase the security industry has used before without delivery and I don’t want to add to it. Business licensing is not coming next year. But the standards buyers should expect from a security provider don’t depend on a change in the law and the providers who already meet them are easy to identify if you ask the right questions.
Book a call with the Magenta team 0800 772 3786 or request a review using the form below.
We’ll give you an honest assessment of your current provider against today’s highest industry standards – and our view of where those standards are heading.
Magenta Security has held NSI Gold accreditation and BSIA membership for more than 25 years and ranks among the top 5% of SIA Approved Contractors in the UK. Established in 1995, the company directly employs its security officers and supports every contract through its 24/7 National Control Room, £10 million public liability cover and 100% money-back guarantee (subject to contractual terms and conditions).
