SCOTLAND could face a severe shortage of qualified door stewards and security staff ahead of new legislation regulating the sector, industry leaders predict.
Just seven months before the introduction of the Private Security Industry Act north of the border, and three years after coming into force in England and Wales, the body regulating it has increased the cost for an approved badge for stewards from £190 to £245.
Combined with the cost of training, which can be as much as £300 and take more than a week to complete, prospective security guards and door stewards would be shelling out more than £500 before earning anything.
With many frontline security staff being part-time, some of Scotland's largest firms fear the cost will be a huge disincentive for those normally attracted by the industry. The Security Industry Authority has defended the cost, saying it needs to be self-financing and that it had previously miscalculated its running costs. The rise comes into force in April, with the law changing in November.
The scheme will apply to an estimated 8000 staff working in the security industry in Scotland and after November it will be a criminal offence to be work as a door steward without a licensed badge.
Yesterday, representatives of Scotland's largest providers of licensed trade door staff met in Glasgow to discuss the rise and the potential of delaying it. While accepting the need for the industry to be regulated and the self-financing requirements of the SIA they want the rise delayed until Scotland comes in line with the rest of the UK.
Mark Hamilton, managing director of security firm Rock Steady, said that as well as being "an unfair imposition on the Scottish industry" the price increase would be a deterrent to potential staff.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article