“The SIA approach to licensing is designed to allow an individual licensed to work in one sector to be also licensed to work in other sector, wherever possible and appropriate. This philosophy aims to maximise sector inter-changeability treating different sectors as gateways to the overall licensed private security industry. The integrated licence approach also provides for greater flexibility and minimises the requirement wherever possible for an individual to hold two or more licences.  This is not possible where the competencies needed are distinctly different or where different regulatory controls are required.

For each sector to be licensed the SIA has specified sufficient competencies to reassure public trust and confidence whilst driving up standards. But competency specifications for licensing are not intended to cover all the training requirements of each job activity before the individual can start work.  This responsibility rests with the employer.

All security operatives in the door supervisor and security guard sectors are required to demonstrate competence by achieving a qualification set at Level 2 in the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).  This means that they will have been trained to nationally recognised standards and will achieve comparable qualifications for licensing.  We acknowledge that competency may be transferable to different scenarios even if it has been achieved through different qualification routes.

The door supervisor qualification has a high degree of overlap with the security guard qualification in terms of competency development.  But it has a greater emphasis on communication and conflict management skills, necessary for a job role which is constantly public facing.  The few competencies that are not covered  by the door supervisor training do not constitute a risk to public safety and can be covered during on-site training before a new guard takes up his/her duties. Even if an employer failed to provide the additional training the impact on public confidence would be minimal.

The security guard qualification has far less overlap with the door supervisor qualification and significantly lacks the additional competency development in communication and conflict management skills.  This level of competency in these skills was agreed during the consultation on the security guarding qualification.  It is therefore not possible to allow individuals licensed as security guards to also be licensed as door supervisors.