SIA publishes three-year Strategic Plan and annual Business Plan

The SIA is “setting an ambitious course” over the next three years with the release of its new Strategic Plan. There’s going to be a significant expansion of the SIA’s remit as the organisation prepares to regulate premises for the first time under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, more commonly known as Martyn’s Law, alongside its existing responsibilities in relation to private security. This will see the SIA play an enhanced role in the regulation of the UK’s protective security landscape.

The SIA’s core purpose – to keep people and places safe and secure by regulating the private security industry and venues across the UK – will remain “at the forefront of everything” the organisation does going forward.

Over the next three years, the SIA will raise licensing standards, focusing for the first time on the quality of service provision and not simply licensing compliance. The SIA will also introduce a new Business Approval Scheme (which is set to replace the existing Approved Contractor Scheme) and lay the groundwork for – and implement – Martyn’s Law, which is expected to commence in the early part of 2027.

The Srategic Plan aligns with wider Government priorities, including: 

*preventing and responding to crime and violence

*protecting people in vulnerable situations (this includes the role private security has to play in safeguarding women and girls in venues and other public places)

*deterring (and reducing harm from) acts of terrorism

Important opportunity

Recently appointed SIA chair Mike Cunningham CBE QPM said: “We have spent time over the last year engaging with a diverse range of UK-wide stakeholders, including those within industry as well as our partner organisations across the protective security sphere to ensure our plans reflect the public safety realities ahead.”

Cunningham continued: “This Strategic Plan reflects an important opportunity for change at a scale the SIA has not seen in more than 20 years. We will concentrate on the areas in which we, as the regulator, can make the most positive difference to public protection. Success will improve public trust and confidence in private security, as well as in protective security at premises and events as people go about their lives throughout the UK.”

Further, Cunningham noted: “The private security industry and venue management teams need to play their part and take ownership and accountability for their responsibilities and actions if lasting improvements to standards and improved public protection are to be achieved. We will work with them and other stakeholder partners to amplify the collective impact.”

In conclusion, Cunningham observed: “We are clear on our mandate and strategic direction over this period in regulating people, businesses and places. We will be confident in setting standards, supportive in seeking compliance and uncompromising in our enforcement.”

As stated, the SIA has also published its Business Plan for 2026-2027. This sets out what the SIA will deliver in the year ahead against the priorities set out in the new Strategic Plan.

*Read the SIA’s Strategic Plan 2026-2029 and the Business Plan 2026-2027