The Security Industry Authority is completing the biggest reshape of its licence-linked qualifications in years. The review, launched on 5 November 2025, covers every SIA qualification, close protection included, and is due to publish its final specifications this summer.
What it examines: core content, safety-critical skills such as physical intervention and searching, counter-terrorism content, and emerging issues including new technologies. It also asks directly whether there is the right amount of content in specialist areas such as close protection.
The timeline the SIA has set: engagement meetings, surveys and webinars ran from November 2025 into January 2026; a public consultation on the draft specifications followed in early spring 2026; final qualification specifications are published in summer 2026; awarding bodies and training providers then design and approve courses through autumn 2026 into spring 2027; and the new qualifications and assessment arrangements go live in spring 2027.
Michelle Russell, the SIA chief executive, has described the review as "a strategic reset" for the sector.
Operator implication: nothing changes on your licence today. But anyone qualifying, requalifying or building a training pathway from spring 2027 will sit the new specifications. Plan course bookings and top-up training around that switch rather than assuming continuity, and confirm which version of a course you are booking as providers rebuild syllabi through late 2026 into 2027.
