The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is looking to reduce the current £220 three-year application fee, the minutes of the January 2017 board meeting of the SIA suggest.
According to the minutes, a ‘fee reduction submission’ from the SIA is now sitting with the Home Office. As background, the SIA has to live within its means – meaning that it is not supposed to go cap in hand to the Government for cash to tide it over; ever since it began taking money for licences in the mid-2000s, it has had peaks and troughs of income as the mainly door staff renew every three years.
The January meeting of the SIA board heard that the Home Office is considering approaching the Treasury for a way to even out the SIA income over the three year cycle. The SIA is not allowed to ‘sit’ on accumulated money for a rainy day, hence the prospect of it passing on its lower costs in terms of a lower fee; Professional Security understands it could be in the region of £10.
However, given the need for negotiations between government departments, the board heard that the date for a reduction could be October 2017, or April 2018.
The fee has been £220 since 2012, when it came down from £245, where it stood from 2007. When the SIA came in, the original fee was £190. But that also compares with a Home Office document from before the setting up of the SIA – in the days when some councils badged their local door staff – that suggested a badge would cost in the order of £40.
For background visit the SIA website.
