Registration and Licensing of Security Service Providers
The core distinction
Registration and licensing are two different acts and examiners test whether you can keep them apart. Registration records a person or business in the Authority's records; licensing authorises a specific category of security service. A business entity is registered and, through its responsible person, holds the licence under which security officers are employed. Security officers themselves are registered and issued with an identity card that must be carried on duty.
Concepts you must know
- Categories of security service (for example guarding, close protection, cash-in-transit, electronic security, investigation) are licensed separately; a provider may not perform a service outside its licensed category.
- The responsible person must be a fit and proper person, and the business must meet infrastructure, training and record-keeping requirements.
- Registration and identity cards are time-bound and must be renewed; working with a lapsed card is an offence for both officer and employer.
- Providers must notify the Authority of changes in directors, ownership or address, and of cessation of business.
Traps
Questions often blur "registered" with "licensed", or suggest an officer may perform any security function once registered. Another trap is treating an employer's licence as covering employees personally, or assuming a card remains valid after employment ends. Watch for options that let an unregistered person "act under supervision".
Rule of thumb
Person = registered; service = licensed; card = carried. If a scenario involves an officer doing a job, first ask whether the provider is licensed for that category, then whether the officer is registered and holding a valid card.
Worked example
A guarding company wins a cash-in-transit contract. Its guarding licence does not authorise that service, and its officers' cards are endorsed for guarding only. Correct answer: the provider must apply to extend its licence to the relevant category and ensure officers are appropriately registered before the service begins - not merely "supervise" the new work.