What Security Guards Can and Can’t Do
London Security College
September 27, 2024
By London Security College Is Your Licence Near to Expire? Join us in a SIA
By London Security College
How To Apply For Your SIA Licence?
Is Your Licence Near to Expire?
Join us in a SIA Top Up Training to renew your licence
How to become an SIA Instructor / Trainer?
How to become an SIA Instructor / Trainer?
Process:
1. Complete and pass your SIA training course
2. Submit your licence application to the SIA
3. Complete the relevant check
Apply for a licence yourself
You can apply for an SIA licence yourself – or your employer may agree to apply for you.
If you decide to apply for a licence yourself, you need to do the following:
- Create an SIA online account.
- Complete and submit an application form through your online SIA account.
- Complete the next steps of your application, such as giving us documents that prove who you are and paying the licence fee (if you are paying this yourself).
Sometimes an organisation may pay the licence fee for you. For example, your employer might agree to do this, or a training provider or back to work scheme.
If so, you need to link your SIA online account with their account. To do this, you need to ask them to send you a request to link with their account. you will then receive an email with instructions on how to give your permission to link accounts.
Complete and submit an application form
To start your application, log in to your SIA online account.
Select ‘start a new application’. This will take you to the licence application form.
You must complete all 9 sections of the form before you can submit your application.
In section 1 of the form, you need to consent (agree) to us checking your identity and criminal record. You need to agree to this first before you can complete the rest of the form.
Read more about the checks we do and the information you will need to provide for them.
You can complete sections 2 to 8 of the form in any order you want. You can also save any information you put in the form in case you want to return it at another time.
Once you complete sections 2 to 8, we recommend taking some time to check that the information you have given is correct and complete. Once you submit your application form, you will not be able to change the information you have given.
Wrong or incomplete information can cause delays in your application. Read more about the things that can affect the speed of your application.
The final section of the form (section 9) is a declaration that the information you have given us in the rest of the form is true and complete. Read this declaration carefully. If you have completed the rest of the form and you are happy to agree to the declaration, tick ‘I agree’ and submit your application.
If you are applying for a front line licence , you must have the correct qualification to be able to submit your application. Read more about the training you need for an SIA licence.
Complete the next steps of your application
Once you have completed and submitted your application form, we will send you a ‘next steps’ message. This will tell you:
- your application reference number
- what you need to do next
SIA may also send you a ‘further information request’ at a later point.
You must follow all of the instructions in these messages. If you do not, we will not be able to complete our application checks. This means that your application will not move to the next stage.
If you live in the UK, the next steps message will usually ask you to go to a Post Office to continue your application. A member of staff at the Post Office will:
- ask you for your application reference number
- check the documents you bring to prove your identity
- take a photo of you
If you are paying your own licence fee, SIA will usually ask you to pay this at the Post Office at the same time as you show your identity documents.
You can use the Post Office branch finder to find a Post Office near to you. Check that it handles SIA licence applications before you go.
If you have spent more than 6 continuous months outside of the UK in the last 5 years, SIA will also ask you to send evidence of overseas criminal record checks.
Things that can affect the speed of your application
Your actions make the biggest difference to the speed of your application.
You can help to prevent delays by:
- providing complete and correct information in your licence application form
- following all the instructions in our next steps messages and further information requests
Other things that can affect the speed of your application include:
- Your address history (for example, if you have lived outside the UK, we may need an overseas criminal record check)
- Your criminal record (if you have one), because we need to look at what’s on your record and decide if you are suitable to hold a licence
- Whether you have charges that are awaiting a trial in court – because we will need to wait for the result of the court case before we can decide whether to give you a licence
- Whether we need to check your right to work in the UK
- The number of applications we are currently processing
- The response time of organisations we work with (for example, the organisations we use to check your UK criminal record)
- Whether your employer pays your licence fee in good time, if they are paying it for you
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