SIA grants £72,000 to 7 good causes across the UK
Today the SIA announced the award of £72,000 from its grant for good causes fund to 7 registered charities and community interest companies across the UK.
Today (30 April 2024) the Security Industry Authority announced the award of £72,000 from its grant for good causes fund to 7 registered charities and community interest companies across the UK. This brings the total grants awarded by the SIA using cash confiscated from criminals to over £250,000.
Through this fund, the UK’s private security industry regulator distributes money recovered through proceeds of crime confiscation orders. Grants are used to benefit the private security industry and improve public protection.
Grants awarded in the 2023 to 2024 financial year will help young people to secure employment in the private security industry, educate about the dangers of knife crime and signs of human trafficking, and improve the personal safety of people in vulnerable circumstances.
Paul Cartlidge, Chair of the grants panel, and Investigations and Enforcement Head of Operational Support at the SIA, said:
As we mark 20 years of SIA licensing, I’m delighted to announce that we have been able to support 7 good causes across the UK with over £72,000 of funding.
This is thanks to the confiscation orders we have secured following successful prosecutions.
Our teams work hard to make sure that those who engage in criminal activity within the private security industry do not financially benefit from their crimes.
The grants awarded for 2023 to 2024 are:
- £23,000 to Diverse FM Community Media & Training Ltd (registered charity no. 1172543) to provide training and support to help at least 25 unemployed or economically inactive people in the Luton area to secure employment in the private security industry.
- £18,000 to Employment 4 All C.I.C (company no. 13327047) to provide training, job placements and additional support for at least 24 young people to help them secure employment in the private security industry.
- £9,264 to Glasgow Street Aid (registered charity no. SC050704) to train at least 15 volunteers in First Response Emergency Care and buy kit bags to provide pre-hospital medical care for complex cases like drug misuse and serious assault.
- £6,633.24 to Hft (HF Trust Limited, registered charity no. 313069) to provide workshops in personal and online safety for learning disabled adults in Bristol.
- £6,633.23 to Invisible Traffick NI (registered charity no. NIC104713) to provide human trafficking awareness training to frontline staff at ports and airports in Northern Ireland.
- £2,000 to Strut Safe CIC (company no. SC736453) to extend support line service hours to help people walking alone get home safely on weeknights as well as weekends.
- £6,633.23 to The Ben Kinsella Trust (registered charity no. 1126612) to hold at least 14 workshops to educate young Londoners about the dangers of knife crime and help them to make positive choices.
A new case study, also released today, explains how the SIA supported 1000 Black Boys CIC last year to provide opportunities and role models to young people who are more likely to be victims of knife-crime or youth violence in London.
More information about the fund is on the SIA grant for good causes pages on GOV.UK.
Notes to editors
About the Proceeds of Crime Act
- The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) enables the SIA to investigate the financial activity of people who have committed a criminal offence and confiscate the proceeds of crime through a court-issued confiscation order. The SIA has been a designated body under POCA since 2015.
- The SIA receives a portion of the money it recovers through confiscation orders under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). This money can only be used to fund its financial investigation capability or distributed to good causes.
- Confiscating ill-gotten cash helps to deter others from committing crime, makes sure that people do not financially benefit from criminal acts, and makes it harder for convicted criminals to come back into the private security industry.
About the SIA grant for good causes fund
- Since 2019, the SIA has awarded £257,141.09 through the grants for good causes fund. Information about funding awarded in previous years is on GOV.UK.
- For information about when the fund is next open for applications, sign up to the SIA mailing list.
Further information
The Security Industry Authority is the regulator of the UK’s private security industry. Our purpose is to protect the public through effective regulation of the private security industry and working with partners to raise standards across the sector. We are responsible for licensing people who do certain jobs in the private security industry and for approving private security companies who wish to be part of the voluntary ‘Approved Contractor Scheme’. We are marking 20 years since we were set up in 2003 and issued the first SIA licences in April 2004.
The SIA is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Home Office. For more information, visit gov.uk/sia.
You can also find us on (LinkedIn @Security Industry Authority, Facebook @theSIAUK, YouTube @TheSIAUK and (X (formerly known as Twitter) @SIAuk.