New system to cut SIA licence delays
Waiting times for processing doorstaff licences will plummet when a new system is implemented within weeks.
That is according to Secur-ity Industry Authority (SIA) chief executive Mike Wilson, who was responding to complaints about long waiting times that lead to shortages of licensed doorstaff.
In the second part of an exclusive interview, Wilson said there had been "individual horror stories" about delays "partly because of the complexities of redirecting mail", plus a "large number" of smaller delays of a few weeks.
The new processing system will allow online applications and, for the first time, different stages of the licensing process can occur simultaneously.
"We anticipate a tremendous improvement in the quality as well as the timing of the service," Wilson said.
"The plan was for the system to come in last autumn. We are now at a position where the system has been substantially delivered.
"We brought the new system in and things are worse temporarily, aggravated by the right-to-work checks. It won't be until the beginning of this month that backlogs will be cleared."
Wilson predicted "a few hundred" doorstaff and other security workers will have experienced delays in licence renewals - but said the revamped system will solve delays.
"People applying now will be tackled by us in a way that should not prevent the licence being renewed in time."
SIA licences must be renewed every three years and the first renewals are currently taking place. Delays of up to 12 weeks had been reported.
Licences can be renewed four months before expiry dates. Check the register of licence holders on www.the-sia.org.uk for details.
sia checks Right to Work in uk
Application forms for doorstaff licences will ask about a candidate's right
to work in the UK for the first time.
This followed the scandal of illegal immigrants apparently gaining SIA licences. More than 10,000 SIA licence holders, including doorstaff, are being investigated after it emerged that they did not appear to have the right to work in the UK.
SIA spokesman Robert Buxton said the question will be asked in new forms to be introduced at a later date. Checks with the Border & Immigration Agency about the right to work, which have been in place since last July, will continue.
The change was urged in a new report from the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Wilson defended the decision not to ask about right to work on the original application form. "It wasn't perceived as a particular problem because it was assumed that employers were exercising their responsibilities."
He said asking for right-to-work status may have slowed the licensing process even more. "It's easy to say with hindsight we should have done this, that and the other, but I'm not sure I accept it."
