How much does a bodyguard cost in the UK?
In the UK, a licensed close protection officer typically costs £300–£1,000 per day, with most London assignments falling between £400 and £600 per day. Hourly work runs roughly £40–£80; a full-time week £2,000–£5,000; ongoing monthly details £8,000–£20,000. The spread reflects risk level, officer experience, location, vehicles and notice, not marketing — the officers required, the hours covered, the assessed risk, whether vehicles are involved, how much notice you can give, and any travel and accommodation charged at cost. A rate far below this range is rarely a bargain: it usually means no SIA licence, no BS 7858 vetting, or no insurance, and the saving is really your risk, transferred back to you. Overspending happens too — buying a full-time detail when a proper risk assessment, a better daily routine and a driver on the evenings that matter would do just as well. We will say so, plainly. Every quote follows a conversation, is given in writing, and is sized to be proportionate to your actual exposure.
What moves the price
Six things decide where a quote lands inside the published range, and a written proposal should show you all of them.
Officers required. Most private work needs one. A second officer is for genuine coverage reasons — two exposed sides of a venue, a family that splits up, long hours that need a handover — not for show. Each officer is priced at the day rate, so this is the single biggest multiplier.
Hours covered. A day rate assumes up to twelve hours. A half day costs less, an extended day more, and round-the-clock cover is priced as two rotating officers rather than one heroic one — a person who has been awake for twenty hours is not protection.
Assessed risk. Low-profile cover in familiar environments sits at the bottom of the band. Public exposure, advance work at multiple venues, unsocial hours or a specific known concern move an assignment up through it. The assessment is factual, not theatrical — and it can move a quote down as easily as up.
Vehicles. A dedicated security driver and vehicle is an additional resource at the standard day-rate band, not a percentage uplift. If your own car and driver are right for the job, a proposal should say so rather than sell you a second vehicle.
Notice.Cover can start from 24 hours’ notice. Short notice compresses planning into the price; a week’s notice lets route work and venue liaison happen at the ordinary rate. Booking ahead is the cheapest security decision you can make.
Duration. Longer engagements cost proportionally less per day, which is why a full week runs £2,000–£5,000 rather than seven separate day rates, and a month-long detail £8,000–£20,000. Travel and accommodation outside the home area are charged at cost — itemised, never marked up.
What that means in practice
An evening out in London. One officer for a dinner and a late return, priced from the hourly band of £40–£80: a five-hour evening typically lands between £200 and £400, at the top of that spread if it is short-notice or ends well after midnight.
A week of school runs and evening cover. One officer on full days across a school week sits inside the £2,000–£5,000 weekly band — mid-band for most families, upper band where evenings regularly run long or two addresses are involved.
A month with a driver. An ongoing detail runs £8,000–£20,000 per month depending on hours and profile; a dedicated security driver and vehicle adds the standard band on the days it is used. This is where proportionate design matters most — the difference between the bottom and top of that range is usually hours, not risk.
None of these is a quote. They are the published market ranges applied to common shapes of work, so you can size a decision before you speak to anyone — the same arithmetic our cost estimator runs.
Why the cheapest quote is a warning
Run the arithmetic on a rate far below market. Out of it must come the officer’s pay, the firm’s margin, BS 7858-standard vetting, insurance and the planning time that makes cover work. A £150 day cannot fund all five, so one of them is missing — usually vetting or insurance, sometimes the licence itself, and always the calibre of officer, because good operatives do not stay with firms that underpay them. The saving is your risk, transferred back to you.
The test is simple: ask for the officer’s SIA licence number — every licence is checkable on the SIA’s public register in under a minute — ask what vetting standard the firm works to, and ask for the quote in writing with everything it includes listed. A professional firm answers all three without hesitation. Anyone who hedges has answered a different question.
Where people overspend
The most common mistake in this market is not underbuying — it is buying a full-time detail because it feels decisive, when the exposure is actually three evenings a week and a predictable routine. A proper risk assessment, a small change to that routine and a security driver on the nights that matter can deliver more real protection than a standing team, at a fraction of the spend.
If less is the honest answer, that is the answer you should be given. Our five-minute self-assessment is willing to say “probably not” — which tells you how to read any firm whose every assessment concludes you need the largest option.
How we quote
A conversation first — your movements, your household, what has changed. Then a written proposal that itemises officers, hours, vehicles and any travel at cost, with one figure at the bottom and nothing to decode. It is sized to your actual exposure, it comes with an NDA as standard, and it creates no obligation. If the honest proposal is smaller than the one you expected, that is the one you will get.
Written by the founder, First Class Executive Security
30+ years in the security industry, 20+ in close protection
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