The BBC has exposed how some security guards working at public events are obtaining fraudulent work licenses after attending fake training courses. An undercover reporter paid extra to shorten a mandatory six-day course to one-and-a-half days, missing essential first aid training. Four training companies offered the reduced courses, alleged to breach regulations, one describing the shortened training as “physical intervention” to learn the safe movement of restraining someone. The industry regulator, the Security Industry Authority (SIA), said it was working with the organisations responsible for overseeing the training providers as inquiries were being launched.
A BBC expose eight years ago revealed how security guards bought qualifications fraudulently for cash. Following the latest investigation, Paul Greaney KC, legal counsel to the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing inquiry said he remained, “extremely concerned about the safety of the public attending events”. The inquiry highlighted a need for comprehensive training, with checks to be put in place. “What I’ve just seen is the complete opposite of that situation,” he told the BBC.
Nearly 170,000 first-time and top-up qualifications, part of the training of the 500,000 active licensed security guards in the UK, are awarded each year by around 650 training providers. They can work at sites including arenas and nightclubs, renewing their licenses every three years with a two-day top-up course. When presented with these findings, the SIA confirmed that it takes allegations of malpractice seriously and said that unsafe qualifications will see licenses suspended.
Speaking on behalf of security dog handler Gaby Hutchinson, who died following a crush at the Brixton Academy, Kelsey Hutchinson said she found it difficult to understand “how security companies can allow their workers to not have proper first aid [training]”. The academy, where claims say staff routinely took bribes to allow ticketless fans to attend events is the subject of an ongoing investigation from an earlier File on 4 programme.
This latest investigation showed that candidates were coached on tests, answers for multiple-choice questions were issued, and timesheets were falsified to cover short courses. While the SIA remains committed to ensuring poor training practices are rooted out, Ofqual, which regulates qualifications, examinations, and assessments in England, will work with regulators to ensure incidents of fraud and malpractice are properly investigated
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