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The Security Industry Authority (SIA) has given notice to the British Institute of Innkeeping Awarding Body (BIIAB) to terminate their recognition agreement, under which the SIA approved BIIAB as an awarding organisation for certain SIA licence-linked qualifications.
The SIA gave notice to BIIAB on 14 July, which means that, with immediate effect, BIIAB should not register any new learners for any of its SIA licence-linked training. BIIAB must also not issue any new licence-linked qualifications at all with effect from 10 August 2026.
The SIA states it has moved to terminate the awarding organisation recognition agreement with BIIAB due to “serious and persistent material breaches of their obligations within the recognition agreement which are not capable of being remedied”.
This unprecedented action follows a series of unannounced inspections by the SIA, as part of operation RESOLUTE, to training centres, which uncovered serious concerns. It also follows Ofqual’s decision to issue a Direction under section 151 (3) of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 preventing BIIAB from taking on new learners for SIA licence-linked door supervisor and security guarding training courses.
Tim Archer, the SIA’s Executive Director of licensing and standards, said: “Licensing is a visible safeguard that protects the public and requires licence holders to be appropriately qualified. It is critical to public safety that front line security operatives obtain their SIA licence through legitimately earned qualifications, delivered by training providers that meet our rigorous standards.
“The public, and businesses that buy security, rely on the SIA licence to show that operatives have been vetted and have completed the required training for the role.
“Through Operation RESOLUTE, we will continue to act swiftly to deal with non-compliance, root out malpractice in training centres, and ensure the public have trust in security licensing, which must be protected from those who seek to exploit it.”
The SIA is working jointly with Ofqual to tackle training malpractice and ensure that the appropriate monitoring, auditing and quality assurance over qualification systems expected of awarding organisations are met. On Thursday 9 July, the SIA removed BIIAB from its course finder tool for door supervisor and security guarding qualifications. This came after Ofqual issued a Direction notice to BIIAB citing serious concerns regarding its arrangements for ensuring the validity of qualifications and compliance.
Ofqual has written to BIIAB highlighting its obligations to protect the interests of learners on these qualifications following the SIA’s termination of recognition as an awarding organisation. The exams and assessment regulator will be monitoring BIIAB to ensure it complies with these obligations.
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