The Security Industry Authority has announced the pilot scheme for testing door supervisor licensing. The pilot is expected to start early in 2004 leading to a full rollout across England and Wales from summer 2004 to early 2005.

The SIA is in discussion with Hampshire local authorities and Hampshire constabulary to work towards piloting the licensing scheme. Hampshire is ideally suited because of its coverage of both urban and rural areas and rich mixture of licensed premises. The SIA will outline full plans for the pilot scheme by this summer. The SIA is running a pilot to:

• Ensure transition from local authority to SIA licences is seamless.
• Minimise disruption to door supervisors, employers and the industry.
• Rigorously test technology and application process.
• Assess levels of training and competency skills.

Transition of local authority licences

Once rollout of SIA licences for door supervisors is underway the SIA will require that from a set date in each region only SIA issued licences are held by door staff. Existing local authority registration and licences will cease to be valid on that date. To assist transition the SIA have requested local authorities only to register or license door supervisors for no more than a twelve-month period.

Andrew Drane, SIA Director of Operations and Compliance said:

"We carefully considered local authority registration and licensing schemes and the key question of whether licences should be allowed to run their course. In light of legal advice and the need to introduce robust and consistent standards across the industry we have taken the decision not to have two licence systems running concurrently in the same area."