Percentage of SIA front line licence holders who are sponsored workers
Published 30 January 2025
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Request
I kindly request the detailed source and methodology used by the SIA policy department to derive the figure of less than 0.2% for the percentage of sponsored employees working in front-line roles within the security industry.
This figure was referenced in an email from [REDACTED] to me dated 16 December 2024. I am seeking to better understand the extent of licensed security staff operating under sponsorship across the industry, as this statistic differs significantly from my own business experience, where approximately 10 to 15% of our staff are sponsored employees.
Response
I can confirm that the SIA does hold this information.
The figure of less than 0.2% was calculated based on statistics provided by our licensing department in November 2024. The figures indicated that at that time we had 675 licence holders whose right to work was under a skilled worker visa or equivalent. That number is around 0.156% of the 432,393 licence holders at the end of the 2023 to 2024 reporting year, as recorded on page 14 in in our annual report.
[Ref: FOI 0539]