The Security Industry Authority publishes its own court record, and the latest update, on Thursday 17 September, is worth reading if your company supplies guarding or close protection staff. It lists 14 prosecution outcomes over the last 12 months, the newest dated Tuesday 18 August 2026.
Six of the 14 were for supplying an unlicensed security operative under section 5 of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Three of those were brought against businesses, and the outcomes were modest: one business was ordered to pay £141 in costs, another £600 in costs, and a third was fined £400 and ordered to pay £500 costs and a £160 victim surcharge.
The other three supply cases were brought "via section 23". Section 23 of the Act makes a director, manager or similar officer guilty of a company's offence where it was committed with their consent or connivance, or is attributable to their neglect. Those cases produced a £2,000 fine with £700 costs and an £800 victim surcharge; a £507 fine with £500 costs and a £203 victim surcharge; and, in a case that also included failing to provide information and making a false statement to the SIA, a 12-month community order of 50 hours' unpaid work.
All six supply cases were heard at magistrates' courts, as were 13 of the 14 cases overall; the SIA lists the remaining one at Scarborough Justice Centre. The heaviest sentence on the list, four months' imprisonment suspended for 12 months, was for making false statements to the SIA rather than for supply.
The SIA's list of active cases, also updated on 17 September, looks different. It lists seven cases. Six are at Crown Court and all six involve supply charges: three against businesses and three against individuals. The SIA lists five of those six, including two of the businesses, as brought via section 23. Two are listed at Southwark Crown Court on 8 January 2027, one at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 19 July 2027, and three at Bristol Crown Court on 2 February 2028, where the charges run to four, six and six counts. The seventh case, for using a false instrument, is listed at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on 30 September 2026. None of these cases has been decided, so we are not naming anyone in them.
For a security business, the takeaway is that supply cases reach the people running the company, not only the company, and the supply cases now pending are listed in the Crown Court rather than a magistrates' court. Check the licence of every operative before every deployment, including subcontracted staff, and keep a record that you did.
