The Security Industry Authority has published the results of a co-ordinated national sweep of the night-time economy. On Saturday 21 June, more than 40 officers from the SIA's Inspections and Enforcement Directorate, working with police, visited 224 licensed premises and ran 450 licence checks across the UK. The release went out on 26 June.
Investigators identified six suspected Section 3 offences under the Private Security Industry Act 2001, the offence of working without a licence. Among them: one operative using a counterfeit licence, one working while their licence was suspended, and one suspected of working on someone else's licence, who left while speaking to investigators. Teams also flagged suspected Section 9 breaches, including failure to display a licence and failure to notify a change of address, and venue staff carrying out licensable roles unlicensed.
The SIA said it would contact the businesses that supplied the unlicensed individuals to assess their liability, noting that supplying an unlicensed operative is a serious criminal offence.
Operator implication: the enforcement focus on the supply chain, not just the individual on the door, is the part to watch. Contractors placing staff carry exposure if licence status is not verified and current. For legitimate operators the message is commercial: clean licensing is a differentiator when the regulator is actively checking and publicising the misses.
