The body that regulates doorstaff processed 30% more licence applications than planned in the past year due to improved application procedures.
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) also revealed plans to simplify the licensing process for doorstaff — including having on-line applications — and to react to an expected rise in demand due to the economic downturn and the 2012 Olympics.
In its new Corporate and Business Plan 2009/10 to 2011/12, the SIA said it "continued to improve the process" for considering applicants' right to work.
The group has had right-to-work checks since 2008, following the revelation that illegal immigrants had been able to get SIA licences. The new report says: "We processed 30% more licence applications than planned."
The report also reveals that the SIA processed 85% of licence applications within 33 working days this year — its target was 80%.
The SIA will have achieved £37m gross income, and generated a surplus of around £2.9m, by the end of this financial year. It predicts the surplus will be spent in 2009/2010 due to the higher volume of applications.
Plans for the next three years include establishing on-line applications and improving customer response times to 95% within 30 seconds.
The report says there's a potential for increased demand" for security staff due to the "possible casual link between the economic downturn and the increased risk of crime".
In response, it promised a "more robust" process for forecasting demand, more flexibility in staffing "to deal with potential surges" in applications, and faster criminal records and right-to-work checks.
The SIA is also "considering initiatives to support heightened demand" before and during the London 2012 Olympics. And it will keep a "watching brief" on developments in biometrics.
On enforcement, the SIA is to implement "new and improved compliance and intelligence systems". Activity will focus on "where there is a greatest risk of non-compliance" and where there's a greatest risk to public protection.