SIF Campaigns

Everyone in the private security industry can see it. Everyone knows it is happening. Far too many people simply choose to look the other way.

A security contract is won at a rate that should allow for properly trained, properly licensed and properly paid officers. On paper, everything looks professional. The client believes they have purchased a compliant security service. The contractor talks about standards, audits, accreditations and regulation.

Then the work is passed down.

Company A wins the contract for £20.50 per hour. It is subcontracted to Company B for £18.50. Company C then takes its slice and passes it on for £16.50. By the time the shift reaches the officer, they may be offered minimum wage, or worse, cash-in-hand rates advertised through WhatsApp or Facebook groups.

Somehow, a security officer ends up working 12-hour shifts for a rate that bears no resemblance to the value of the original contract.

This is not professional security. This is a race to the bottom.

The industry was told that regulation would transform private security. We were told licensing would drive up standards, wages would improve and security would become a recognised profession. The reality for many frontline officers is very different.

Many officers still pay for their own licence, fund their own training, work long and unsociable hours, face violence and abuse, and accept poverty-level pay because every company above them in the chain has taken a cut before the shift ever reaches them.

ACS, BS standards, SIA regulation, audits and accreditations all have their place. But none of it is enough if the commercial model rewards those who strip money out of contracts while pushing risk down onto the worker.

The biggest scandal in security is not only low pay. It is the disappearance of accountability.

By the time the officer arrives on site, the original contractor may not even know who they are. The client believes they have bought a regulated service. The main contractor blames the subcontractor. The subcontractor blames the labour supplier. The labour supplier blames the officer.

This is how exploitation survives. It survives in the gaps between responsibility, contract value and enforcement.

Security officers are not decorative uniforms. They protect people, property, infrastructure, hospitals, transport hubs, retail sites, construction sites, public spaces and major events. They manage conflict, respond to emergencies, identify risk and support public safety in some of the most challenging environments in the country.

That work deserves professional respect. It also deserves professional pay.

The SIF’s position is clear. The current system is not working for frontline security workers.

The Security Industry Authority must take urgent ownership and do what it was created to do: regulate. The Government must also invest in stronger powers, better enforcement and SIA staff who are visible on the ground, speaking to frontline officers, scrutinising employers and challenging those who put profit before public protection.

Abusive subcontracting chains must be challenged. False self-employment, underpayment and labour exploitation must be properly enforced. Clients must be held accountable where procurement decisions create unsafe or exploitative working conditions.

Most importantly, frontline workers and trade unions must have a real voice in shaping the future of the industry. The people who stand the posts, work the nights, deal with the risks and carry the responsibility understand the failures of this industry better than anyone.

Successive governments, ministers, regulators and industry leaders have spoken for years about professionalising security. Frontline officers have heard the speeches. They have seen the glossy strategies. They have paid the licence fees. They have completed the training. They have worn the uniform. They have stood the night shifts. They have taken the abuse.

What they have not seen is an industry that consistently values them.

Everyone can see the problem. Everyone knows it is happening. The only real question is whether those with power are finally prepared to act.

For the SIF, the time for reform is now.

The SIF is launching a campaign to help security officers challenge low pay directly with their employers.

For too long, frontline security workers have been expected to accept poor rates of pay while carrying increasing responsibility, working long and unsociable hours, paying for SIA licences and training, completing mandatory training and dealing with violence, abuse and risk on site.

At the same time, the Security Industry Authority’s own Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 2025 shows that the highest paid director’s remuneration increased from £145,000 to £150,000 in 2023 to 2024, to £155,000 to £160,000 in 2024 to 2025. The report also states that the Chief Executive received a 6.8% consolidated pay award in 2024 to 2025.

The SIF does not object to people being paid properly for responsible work but can this be justified whilst you carry all the burden on a fraction of their wage?

If senior figures within the regulator can receive pay increases, then frontline security officers who protect people, property, infrastructure, hospitals, retail sites, construction sites, transport hubs and public spaces should also be able to ask for fair pay without being ignored or dismissed.

Security work is professional work. It deserves professional pay.

This is not about asking for special treatment. It is about asking for fair recognition of the work security officers do every day.

The industry cannot keep talking about standards, professionalism and public safety while leaving frontline officers on poverty-level pay.