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 working as a close protection officer must hold a current SIA Close Protection licence. There are no exceptions, and “but they’re ex-forces so it’s fine” is not one either. 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.
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