People authorised to inspect an SIA licence: further clarification
Published 14 December 2023
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1. Request
Your Get Licensed document says that:
A Licence Holder does not have to wear their licence where it can be seen if they can show that the work they are doing on that occasion requires that they should not be immediately identifiable as someone doing such security work… On such occasions, the Licence Holder must have their licence on them and be able to show the licence if someone asks for it.
It does not specify who that “someone” is. I take this to mean that when the operative is working covertly, anyone can ask them the produce the licence for inspection. Is that correct?
2. Response
There are no separate conditions attached to an individual undertaking covert activity. Covert activity is a type of work, not a licence. Conditions are attached to each and every single licence that we grant to SIA operatives, they are not attached to the type of activity you undertake. For the avoidance of doubt, members of the public or lay people cannot ask for an operative, whether they are working covertly or not, to produce their licence. The only people who an SIA licensed operative must produce their licence to are:
- Police officers
- Any member or employee of the SIA authorised to do so
- Any other person authorised by the SIA
This applies to covert working and non-covert working. The “someone” referred to in Get Licensed is not members of the public or lay people, it refers solely to the people listed above.
The licence conditions do not change if you are undertaking covert activity. The law does not change depending on what activity an individual is undertaking and the law does not change to allow for anybody, other than the above mentioned people, to ask an SIA operative to produce their licence.
[Reference: FOI 0476]