In-house or contracted security: should a family or company employ its own security staff?

Employ your own security staff when the need is full-time, steady and likely to last for years; contract when it is part-time, changeable or still being worked out. An employed officer knows the household, its staff and its routines, and that continuity is worth having. It also makes you an employer: payroll, pension duties, sick pay, 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year, and a gap to fill whenever that one person is away, unwell or leaves. The SIA’s guidance is that someone employed directly by the company that uses their services does not usually need a licence, and a household relying on that should confirm it with the SIA; officers supplied under a contract do need one. A contracted provider supplies licensed officers, covers holidays and illness, scales cover up and down with the diary, and gives you one accountable contact. A hybrid sits between the two: one trusted employee for the everyday, contracted officers for journeys, events, nights and relief. Round-the-clock cover means rotating officers either way.

What the SIA says about in-house staff

The SIA’s guidance, Find out if you need an SIA licence, says you do not usually need a licence if you work ‘in-house’, which it describes as being employed directly by the company that uses your services. A ‘contract for services’ is when you or your employer have a contract to supply your services to another organisation. The guidance names two activities that need a licence either way: door supervision at licensed premises, and vehicle immobilising in Northern Ireland. Close protection is not one of them.

The guidance says ‘usually’, and it is written in terms of a company employing staff rather than a private household. A family that employs its own officer should confirm its position with the SIA before relying on the exemption. An officer supplied through an agency, or self-employed and contracted to protect the family, is working under a contract for services and needs a current Close Protection licence.

Whatever the exemption allows, the licence is worth asking for. It shows the holder has the licence-linked qualification and that the SIA has checked their identity, criminal record and suitability. Checking a licence on the register takes a minute, and what the licence covers is set out separately. Whether a full-time officer who works only for you is employed or self-employed is worth settling first, and HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax tool will give its view.

What employing brings

Someone who knows the household. Over months an employed officer learns the staff, the children’s friends, the regular routes and which callers are expected. That knowledge stays in the house for as long as they do.

An employer’s obligations. Registering with HMRC as an employer and running PAYE, National Insurance, workplace pension duties and sick pay, whether the household employs one person or several. Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year.

Recruitment and vetting. Finding, interviewing and checking the candidate falls to you: references, screening to BS 7858 with their consent, and a licence check on the register even where the law does not require one.

Management. Rotas, refresher training and the standard of the work. Ending an employment is a matter of employment law, not a supplier’s notice period.

Cover for absence. When the officer is on holiday, unwell or has left, the household is without them until someone else is arranged. Planned leave can be covered in advance; illness cannot.

What contracting brings

Licensed officers. Every officer supplied under contract needs a current SIA Close Protection licence, checkable on the register. Screening to BS 7858 is the provider’s work, and you can ask how it was done.

Cover that scales. One officer for an ordinary week, two for a busy week or an event, none in the month the family is away. You pay for the days used rather than for a post.

Rotas and replacements. Holiday, illness, handovers and the officer who moves on are the provider’s to solve, and a replacement should arrive already briefed.

One accountable contact. A named person answers for the whole arrangement, whoever is on duty that day.

The trade-off is continuity. A provider that sends a different face each week has given away the main advantage of employing, so ask who will turn up — one of the questions to ask any security company. We scale by subcontracting to officers the founder has worked with, rather than keeping a standing team on the payroll.

Employing and contracting together

A hybrid pairs one employed person for the everyday — often a driver or a house manager who knows the family — with contracted officers for the parts that need more: journeys in the UK, an occasion at the house, a period of press attention, the nights, and the weeks the employee is on leave.

It works when both halves follow one standard: the same vetting for the employee as for contracted officers, one written procedure for callers and deliveries, and a proper handover. Holding that together across several homes, staff and journeys is the work of a family office security programme; for a single house, a residential security survey sets the procedures both halves work to.

A fortnight of relief cover while the household’s own driver is on leave should leave the school run, the diary and the house manager’s routine as they were. That is the standard we work to.

How the costs compare

Compare the full annual cost of an employee — salary, the employer’s costs, recruiting, managing and cover for absence — not the salary alone.

Contracted cover is priced by the officer and the day: £300–£1,000 per officer per day in the UK, £2,000–£5,000 for a full week, and £8,000–£20,000 for a month-long detail. Relief cover for an employee’s holiday is priced like any other week.

Round-the-clock cover is where the arithmetic changes. One person cannot cover every hour, so a 24-hour post means rotating officers whichever route you take: several employees, each with holiday and sick pay, or a contracted rota priced as rotating officers, each at the day rate — at least double one officer’s day. The larger difference is usually hours: a household that needs cover on evenings and days out is paying for part of a post, not all of it. The cost guide and the cost estimator run the numbers.

Questions to settle before deciding

Which hours need cover, and how many are there in a normal week?
Is the need steady and likely to last years, or tied to a period — a dispute, a move, a spell of press attention?
Who will manage an employee day to day, and who covers their leave and illness?
What happens to keys, codes and what the person knows on the day they leave?
Would a survey and a few changes to routine make full-time cover unnecessary?

The answer to the last may be that you need neither an employee nor a standing contract; the self-assessment gives a first read. The checks to run on any provider are in how to hire a bodyguard, and confidentiality and how an engagement begins are covered in the FAQ.

Common questions

Is it cheaper to employ a bodyguard than to contract one?

It depends on the hours. For a steady, full-time post that will last years, employing can cost less per hour, although National Insurance, pension, sick pay, holiday and absence cover all belong in the comparison. For part-time or changeable needs, contracting usually costs less, because you pay only for the days used.

Can we start with contracted cover and employ someone later?

Yes, and it is often the sensible order. A few months of contracted cover shows which hours need an officer, which is the information an employment decision depends on. If a permanent post is then justified, contracted officers can provide relief cover for the new employee’s leave.

Does an employed driver need an SIA licence to protect the family?

Driving is not in itself close protection; guarding the person in the car against assault or injury is. Under the SIA’s guidance, someone employed directly in-house does not usually need a licence, while a driver supplied under a contract to protect does. A household relying on the exemption should confirm its position with the SIA. How a security driver differs from a chauffeur is covered separately.

Written by the founder, First Class Executive Security

30+ years in the security industry, 20+ in close protection