Providing Security Officer Services

The security sector provides the resources to keep people and property safe. It provides an important component in the fight against crime, antisocial behaviour and terrorism. It reflects and responds to changes in regulations and technologies.

It is important that all apprentices acquire a relevant SIA licence before or in the first few weeks of the apprenticeship. The sector is regulated by the Security Industry Authority, (SIA), and only licence holders are allowed to work in these roles (unless they are in an unregulated role with in the public sector). Candidates need to be age 18 or above to obtain an SIA licence.

Given the nature of the work, candidates will need to go through a criminal record check before being accepted onto the apprenticeship.

Apprentices could peruse a range of team leader/ supervisory qualifications avaliable and although generic, these could be contextualised for the security sector by the training provider. There is also a new standards-based apprenticeship being developed in England to meet the needs of employees progressing from security officer posts. There is a possibility that a similar development could take place in Scotland to develop an apprenticeship framework at SCQF level 6/7/8.

Apprentices may be able to move into different roles within their own company, or in other companies should the need arise. The more modules they attain in the SVQ, the wider the range of roles they could apply for. These could include working in any of the areas covered by the framework, moving into supervisory roles, moving into training and assessing roles.