A regulatory change that landed on 1 April is now biting on renewals, and it is catching operators out.
Since 1 April 2026, close-protection operatives cannot renew an SIA licence without first completing an approved close-protection refresher qualification. Per the SIA, applications for renewal from that date must include the refresher, and a relevant first-aid qualification has to be presented alongside it. This is not a one-time top-up: it is now part of every renewal cycle, and the regulator has said it will review the licence-linked qualifications further over the next two years.
The sequencing is the trap. The refresher qualification has been available since 1 October 2025, so there is no shortage-of-courses excuse if a licence lapses — but industry training guidance is clear that the course runs several days, that you need a valid Level 3 first-aid ticket (First Aid at Work or equivalent) in place before you can sit it, and that the certificate still has to be issued before the renewal can go in. Leave it late and the gaps stack up.
For operators and the teams that book them, the exposure is simple: an expired licence means an operative cannot legally work a close-protection detail, and a lapse can strand a task at short notice. Anyone whose ticket expires over the summer or autumn should have the first-aid cover current and the refresher booked now, not in the renewal month. Team leaders should be auditing their operators' licence and first-aid expiry dates as a standing check, the same way they track medical and vetting currency.
