Questions people ask us.

Close protection is personal security from a licensed officer who plans and manages your movements. It is usually tied to a period rather than a whole life: a public profile that has grown fast, a business sale in the news, a specific threat, a visit to the UK, a large event. You may need something smaller — a survey of the home, or a security driver for certain journeys. The proportionality self-assessment helps you judge which.

Close protection officers, including female officers; security drivers and security chauffeurs; protection for international families visiting the UK; residential security surveys with a written, graded report; residential security officers for periods of heightened attention; cover for a home while you are publicly away; risk and threat assessment; security for weddings, private events and film and television productions; and security programmes for family offices. Each is set out under services.

Mostly the words. “Bodyguard” is the everyday term; “close protection officer” is the industry’s name for the licensed role, and the SIA’s qualifications say “close protection operative”. The job behind all three names is the same, and most of it is planning. The full comparison covers what the licence involves.

Most of the work happens before you leave the house: checking the route and an alternative, looking at a venue before you arrive, and knowing where you will be dropped off and collected. On the day, the officer keeps you moving to plan, notices what does not fit, and moves you away from trouble early. In a larger detail the roles divide, and the guide to who does what sets them out.

A chauffeur’s job is comfort and punctuality. A security driver adds planning and awareness: the route checked in advance with an alternative, attention on what follows as well as what lies ahead, and a car chosen so it does not stand out. Where protection is part of a contracted role, the driver needs an SIA Close Protection licence. For many people one well-chosen security driver is all the protection a week needs. The guide to security chauffeurs and security drivers compares the two.

Yes — weddings, private parties, premieres and corporate occasions. The work centres on arrivals and departures, who is expected and the principal’s movements through the occasion, planned with the venue in advance. A small private party may need very little; a large one needs a plan agreed with everyone running the day. The event security page has the detail, and there is a separate guide to whether a wedding needs security.

That comes from the assessment and your own preference. Most private work is low-profile: an officer who looks like part of your party and a car that looks like any other executive car. A visible presence suits a few moments, such as a crowded arrival at an event, where being seen is part of the job. The guide to bodyguards and close protection officers explains why planning counts for more than presence.

Yes. The car can be one of our own vehicles, one from a trusted partner fleet, or yours, chosen to suit the occasion without standing out. If you already have a driver, the security side is planned around them. The pages on security chauffeurs and security drivers have more.

It is planned for before the day starts, down to the nearest emergency department and the way out of each venue. The officer’s first job is to move you away from the problem, then to give first aid where it is needed and call the emergency services. The police take charge when they arrive. What an officer may and may not do has a guide of its own.

Yes. Any private individual, family or business can hire close protection. What the law controls is the officer: anyone supplying close protection under contract needs a current SIA Close Protection licence, and no SIA licence authorises armed protection or gives powers beyond those of any member of the public. Ask for the licence numbers and check them yourself. The guide to bodyguard licensing has the detail.

Check five things: a current SIA Close Protection licence for every officer, verified on the public register; BS 7858 vetting; insurance confirmed in writing; a written proposal before anyone deploys, setting out scope, dates and fees; and a firm that asks about your circumstances before it proposes anything. Be wary of anyone offering armed protection in Great Britain. The guide to hiring a bodyguard goes further.

SIA-licensed close protection officers, each screened to BS 7858. A detail is built for each engagement from operatives the founder has worked with, chosen for the task. It scales with the work, from one security driver to a team for a visit to the UK. The about page sets out the founder’s background and training.

In two layers. The SIA checks identity and suitability before it grants a licence, and anyone can check that licence on its public register. On top of that, every officer deployed is screened to BS 7858, the British Standard code of practice for screening people who work in a secure environment: employment history, residency, financial and criminal record checks. Our credentials set out each one and how to verify it.

The Security Industry Authority licenses individuals, not companies, under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Anyone doing close protection under contract needs its Close Protection licence, which lasts three years. The SIA’s public register can be searched by the 16-digit licence number or by surname and other details, and shows whether a licence is current and when it expires. The guide to checking an SIA licence goes step by step.

Every officer holds a current SIA Close Protection licence. Getting one requires a licence-linked close protection qualification, with a first aid qualification in place before the course begins. Renewing it requires the close protection refresher qualification and a first aid qualification that is still in date. The expiry date is on the SIA’s public register, and the licence guide explains what the licence involves.

Judge any firm on things you can check. Ours: every officer’s SIA licence can be verified on the public register; market price ranges for each shape of work are published in the cost guide; we specify home security systems and introduce accredited installers, but neither sell nor install hardware; and the written proposal can recommend less than you asked for. Put the seven questions to any provider, us included.

Yes. Officers are chosen for the task, so a request shapes the choice: a female officer, an Arabic-speaking officer, or a security driver for the school run. Say what matters to you in the first conversation, alongside the dates, so the right person is free when you need them.

Whatever the setting calls for: a suit for a board meeting or a hotel lobby, smart casual for a family day out, black tie for a gala or private party, practical clothes for a country estate. The test is whether the officer fits in with the people around you, so nothing that resembles a uniform.

Our written proposal prices the whole engagement before anyone deploys: the officers and their days, and vehicles where they are needed. Travel and accommodation outside the home area are charged at cost and itemised. Ask any provider how changed dates and cancellation are handled, and have the answer in writing. Market ranges for common shapes of work are in the guide to close protection costs.

Either works. Cover can be booked for an evening, a day, a week or an open-ended period, and each engagement starts with its own written, priced proposal. Market ranges by the hour, the day, the week and the month are in the cost guide, so you can see where your plans might sit before you ask.

No. We work UK-wide from a base in Lincolnshire, and a detail follows you wherever you go in the country — a day in the Cotswolds, a weekend in Scotland, a race meeting, a house party in the shires. A journey out of town gets the same advance work as a day in Mayfair.

As soon as the dates are fixed. The extra time goes on advance work: routes driven, venues seen, and the right officers free on the right days. Cover can start from 24 hours’ notice when it must, with less advance work and fewer officers to choose from. The first step is the same either way: a private enquiry.

Yes. Round-the-clock cover is a rota of officers working in shifts, because one person cannot stay alert through the day and the night. Before committing to it, look at whether the nights need an officer at all: a residential survey will show whether the house, a monitored alarm and a clear plan can carry them. The cost guide sets out what 24-hour cover costs.

It depends on how long the need lasts. Employing an officer makes you the employer: holiday and sickness cover, a replacement if it does not work out, and checking the vetting yourself. A firm carries those, plans the work, and scales up or down as life changes. For a permanent, unchanging need, direct employment can make sense; for most people a contracted officer is simpler. An officer employed directly does not usually need an SIA licence, while one supplied under contract does; ask for one either way.

Under UK GDPR. First Class Executive Security Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a data controller; the registration number is on our credentials page, to check against the ICO’s public register. The privacy notice sets out what is collected, why, and how long it is kept.

Yes. Family work is usually quieter than people expect: a security driver on the school run, an officer with the family at weekends, a female officer where that suits the household better. Children should be able to get on with their day without noticing much. The plan covers the home too: who knows the routine, and who comes and goes.

Quite a lot. Keep your home address off public records where the law allows, post travel and locations after you have left rather than while you are there, vary the routines that are easy to watch, and check who holds keys and alarm codes. The self-assessment shows whether you need more, and there is a guide to keeping your address private.

Yes, and a detail runs better when they are part of the plan. The house manager, the PA, the family’s own driver and any existing team each know something the officer needs: the diary, the routines, who is expected at the door. The officer works around the household, with one person accountable for how the pieces join. For families with several homes, see family office security.

Yes. Arabic-speaking officers can be arranged on request, and female officers are available for the women of a family. Both are easiest to arrange when the visit dates are known early. The wider arrangements for Gulf-based families — arrival, the residence, the return — are set out for families visiting from the Gulf.

Yes. The detail liaises with the private aviation terminal and the handler, so the transfer to the car is planned before the aircraft lands. Airside access is arranged case by case with the handler. Luggage is handled without the family waiting on it. The rest of the visit is covered under visiting the UK.

Yes. The plan is built around the family’s day, so prayer times, fasting hours during Ramadan and the days of Eid are part of the timings from the start, down to when the car is needed and where it waits. Tell us what the family observes in the first conversation. The page for visits from the Gulf has more.

No. Static guarding, keyholding and mobile patrols are the work of guarding companies, and where you need them we will say so and point you to a specialist. What we do for homes is narrower: a residential security survey with a written report, residential security officers for periods of heightened attention, and cover for a home while its owner is publicly away.

No. Investigations, surveillance and counter-surveillance, bug sweeps and digital-footprint work are specialist disciplines, and each should go to a specialist firm; if the first conversation points to one, we will say so. Our work is protection itself: officers, drivers, surveys of the home, and the risk assessment that decides how much of each you need.