Do bodyguards need a licence in the UK?
Yes — close protection is a licensed activity in the UK under the Private Security Industry Act 2001, and anyone supplying close protection under a contract must hold a current SIA Close Protection licence. Ex-forces experience is no exemption; the narrow one is an officer the family employs directly. The fact that some people operate without a licence is exactly why this is worth two minutes of your time. A licence is the floor, not the ceiling: serious firms also vet their operatives to BS 7858, covering employment history, residency, financial and criminal-record checks, with an enhanced DBS check on top. You do not need to take anyone’s word for it — SIA licences are publicly verifiable on the SIA register, and a professional will hand you their licence number without hesitation; reluctance to do so tells you everything. Watch for the red flags: no licence number offered, cash only, no insurance, and no willingness to sign a non-disclosure agreement — any one of them should end the conversation.
What the licence covers — and what it does not
The SIA licenses individuals for specific activities, and the sectors do not interchange. A Close Protection licence covers guarding one or more individuals against assault and injury — the work this whole site describes. A Door Supervision licence covers licensed premises; a Security Guarding licence covers property. Someone holding one of those is not licensed for close protection, however experienced they are, and a firm quietly staffing your detail with door staff is breaking the law on your behalf.
Two more things the licence does not do. It licenses the person, never the company — there is no such thing as an “SIA-licensed firm”, so a company claiming one is telling you something about its precision. And it certifies a minimum training standard and identity checks, not competence at your kind of work: a licence says someone may do the job, not that they have spent twenty years doing it well. That difference is what the conversation with a firm is for.
What vetting adds on top
A licence is the floor, not the ceiling. Serious firms also vet operatives to BS 7858 — employment history, residency, financial and criminal-record checks — with an enhanced DBS check on top. The reason financial standing is in there is practical, not moralising: a person in serious debt standing next to your family and your property is a pressure point someone else can use.
How to check it yourself, in under a minute
Ask for the officer’s licence number — sixteen digits, also printed on the credit-card-sized licence itself — and put it into the SIA’s public register online. The register shows whether the licence is active, the sector it covers and its expiry date. Check two things: that it says Close Protection, and that it is current. A professional hands the number over without hesitation; reluctance is itself the answer. If you are shown the physical card, it should match the person holding it — the register check takes less time than reading this paragraph.
Every field on the register, the statuses and what to do when a name does not come up are in how to check an SIA licence yourself.
The licence, question by question
How do you get a close protection licence?
By training first: a licence-linked close protection qualification with an approved provider, with a first aid qualification in place before the course begins. Then an application to the SIA, which checks the applicant's identity and whether they are suitable to hold a licence. Applying does not guarantee one; the SIA publishes its criteria in its Get Licensed booklet.
How long does an SIA close protection licence last?
Three years. To renew, an officer must also hold the close protection refresher qualification, so a current licence is evidence of recent training rather than of a course taken long ago. The expiry date is on the public register, which is the thing to check — not the card.
Does a bodyguard employed directly by a family need a licence?
Not always. The SIA's guidance says someone employed directly by the organisation that uses their services does not usually need a licence, while a contractor or self-employed officer supplying close protection does. Whichever applies, ask for the licence anyway: it is the one credential anyone can verify in a minute.
Does a close protection licence give an officer any powers?
No. It licenses the person to do the work lawfully under contract; it confers no power of arrest beyond what any member of the public has, no right to search anyone and no right to carry a weapon. It is also a licence for an individual — the SIA does not license companies.
The red flags
No licence number offered. Cash only. No insurance. No willingness to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Any one of them should end the conversation.
Written by the founder, First Class Executive Security
30+ years in the security industry, 20+ in close protection