beSmart Blog » 2010

SIA Announce New e-Fill Service for Licence Applications

July 30th 2010

Applicants for SIA licences can now fill in their form online with the e-Fill service introduced by the Security Industry Authority.

e-Fill has been designed to make it easier and quicker for applicants to complete their application form. It also has built in verification to reduce the likelihood of the form being completed incorrectly and returned to the applicant.

Applicants fill in the form online, then print, sign and post it manually along with the required supporting documents.

Users register on the SIA website and log in to use the service. If they have previously submitted an application, the online form pre-populates information such as the applicant’s name, date of birth, town of birth, email address, postcode and national insurance number. The system also allows security providers to complete the form on behalf of their staff.

SIA Director of Service Delivery Stephen McCormick said:

“We are delighted to offer this new service which makes it easier and quicker for applicants to complete their application form. Applicants can track the progress of their application and have online guidance at each stage of the process. The contact centre also has a dedicated option for those who need assistance using the new system.
The launch follows months of testing and trialling to ensure the facility is working correctly and effectively. The development of e-Fill is part of our commitment to introduce e-services and provide a modern service to our customers.”

Suzi says: This great news. It will make it much easier to complete applications and will hopefully ensure less applications are returned for being incomplete. As a company sponsor, we at beSmart Training welcome this new intiative. It will make my job much easier and hopefully quicker too. What it won’t do is ensure people provide the correct identification which is still a major problem with these applications. beSmart offers regular SIA licensing courses for door supervision and vehicle immobilisation. We also have just gained approval to offer the CCTV courses too and will be starting to run those towards the end of September. For more information on any of our courses go to our website at www.besmart-training.co.uk, or call Suzi on 020 7237 6007.

Comments (1) / Leave a comment

SIA say no to single generic licence

July 15th 2010

Following the informal consultation on whether a single generic SIA licence should be introduced, the SIA will not be developing a non sector-specific licence.

Overall, feedback from the industry showed that while there was some interest in a more integrated approach, the option for a single generic licence card did not receive widespread support.

At present, SIA licence cards are specific to each sector. Operatives working in more than one sector may need to be issued with multiple licences.

The two options set out in the consultation were:

to introduce a single generic licence card covering all of the licensable activities that the holder is qualified to undertake; or
to continue to issue sector-specific and multiple licences.

SIA Director of Strategy and Corporate Services, Hazel Russell said:

“I would like to thank respondents for their contributions to this informal consultation. The responses did not provide clear support for the development of a non-sector specific licence, so at present we will not be making changes to the licences that we issue.

However, we will now reconsider how we have defined the ‘manned guarding’ sectors and we will take account of the consultation responses in identifying opportunities for limiting the requirement for multiple licences and for reducing administrative burdens. This, combined with our ongoing customer service improvements will help to ensure that any future changes will continue to be stakeholder-led.”

Suzi says: I assume that redefining manned guarding will introduce new sectors within guarding such as “retail” security and “construction site” security, etc. Will that mean yet another day’s training I ask myself. We shall see. But, rest assured, we will let you know if and when it happens.

Comments (0) / Leave a comment