Interviews

Warning over staff shortfall

by Mark Rowe

If you want door staff or stewards at midsummer or other peak periods, you may have to pay more – or not find any to hire at all.

That was the warning from Mark Harding, speaking on the first day at the UK Security Expo on Wednesday, November 30, as the chairman of the trade body the UK Crowd Management Association. This month the association is sending out a survey to the industry, seeking to benchmark supply and purchasing of stewards and event security staff. The association has been working with the Football Safety Officers Association (FSOA) and the regulator the Security Industry Authority, and it was SIA data that Mark showed to make his point that numbers of badged door staff as used to secure events are forecast to fall. Speaking after his talk to Professional Security, Mark said that the industry cannot sustain its position, because most of the work is at weekends and Friday evenings, not like the 9am to 5pm of a factory of office.

Part of his talk was about the apprenticeship levy. In the December issue of Professional Security, that levy was welcomed for installers by Pat Allen, chairman of the Fire and Security Association. However Mark said that the UKCMA was trying to ask the Government not to bring in the levy to its sector. To pay for the levy, businesses will have to cut head-count, he warned. “The apprenticeship scheme has the actual opposite effect of what it is trying to achieve,” he said. “I appreciate it works in some areas, it doesn’t work in a part time [sector]. The staff are casual and transient, they don’t want to become permanent. It [the levy] is going to have a massive negative effect on the delivery of crowd management and event security.” While Mark said that the levy does not benefit any UKCMA members, the association has to have evidence to prove its case; hence the survey.

Mark Harding, pictured, described how the ratio of permanent to casuals in the event security sector is generally about one to 50. Showsec now has 47 people with a foundation degree, such as the operations executives, and area and regional managers, doing planning and other work in the week. The UKCMA has asked people in the industry what made them come into it; reasons include the flexibility, volume and variety of the work, and the ‘learning pathway’ (people who find they like the work and who want to specialise in it, can do). The apprenticeship scheme begins in April 2017; Mark questioned if enough people are qualified to train trainers to deliver accredited courses.

About the UKCMA

The UK Crowd Management Association was set up in 2001 and has 15 full members, event security and stewarding contractors. Vice-chairman is Tony Ball, MD of The SES Group – Show and Event; treasurer, Darren Edwards, MD of Safestyle Security Services; and secretary, Anne Marie Chebib, MD of Select Security and Stewarding. Visit www.ukcma.com.

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