A message from our Chief Executive - 20 March 2020
How the SIA is responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
As the situation with respect to Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to develop at pace I have had to take a number of decisions to protect my own staff. These inevitably have consequences for our service delivery.
As of today our office is temporarily closed until further notice, with all staff working remotely. I would like to pay tribute to all of them for their professionalism and commitment during this difficult time.
At present our customer support team continues to operate. You should contact us through your online account or the contact us form on this website. We are continuing to respond to business enquiries within 48 hours and responding to individuals as quickly as possible. Currently most customer enquiries are responded to within five working days. Please only submit one message, we will reply as soon as possible.
We are processing new licence applications made through businesses using our Licence Management service or where original documents are not physically required by us. Currently we understand that the Post Office remains open for document checking purposes, where necessary. We are exploring all avenues available to us to maintain and expedite licence renewals but this must be within our legal remit. We will keep you informed of our progress in this regard.
If you are about to submit physical documents to support your application, STOP. You should not send any documents to the SIA at this time, as we are currently unable to access or process any materials sent to us. Any documents already sent will be stored securely but cannot be processed or returned at this time.
We will continue to process Approved Contractor Scheme renewals with remote assessments but are not accepting new applications.
Today, we will be sending tailored information to licence applicants and holders. Responses to frequently asked questions can be found here.
With regards to essential or key worker status, I can assure you that we continue to liaise closely with the Home Office and Cabinet Office to ensure the importance of private security in keeping the country safe, secure and running smoothly is fully understood. However, at present private security workers are not specifically or explicitly listed. I will provide further updates on this as soon as I can.
We are keeping the situation under constant review and will seek to resume full service delivery as soon as it is safe to do so.
Ian Todd
Chief Executive