What should you look for in an event security agency?

The quote arrived in an hour, the price was good and the email signature had a logo. Three weeks later the officers who turned up were not the ones you were promised, nobody had a licence card you could see, and the only paperwork was an invoice. The organiser in that hypothetical did nothing unusual. They just did not know what to ask.

In short: a good event security agency can show you, before you book, that every officer is SIA-licensed and checkable on the public register, that any approved contractor claim is real, that it carries public liability insurance and will give you a written risk assessment and deployment plan, that it sizes the team to your layout rather than a flat ratio, and that it quotes one clear price. The checks below take about an hour and cost nothing.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Your venue, your licence conditions and your own risk assessment decide what applies to you.

What should you look for in an event security agency?

Seven things, in this order. One: proof that every officer holds a valid front-line SIA licence, checkable on the register. Two: honesty about accreditation, including whether the company is an SIA approved contractor. Three: public liability insurance and a willingness to show the certificate. Four: a written risk assessment and method statement for your event, not a generic template. Five: a plan that matches officer roles and numbers to your layout, licence and guest profile. Six: a single written quote with the hours, roles and any extras itemised. Seven: a named supervisor and a clear line of contact on the day.

The order matters because the first two are legal questions and the rest are quality questions. An agency that stumbles on licensing should be ruled out at that point. An agency that passes on licensing but cannot produce a plan is not dangerous, just not ready for your event. The sections below explain how to check each one without taking anyone’s word for it.

How do you check an agency’s staff are properly licensed?

On the register, before the day, with the numbers in front of you. Government guidance is blunt: you must check if someone has the correct security licence before hiring them for private security work, and you could be fined or sent to prison if you pay someone to work in security without the right SIA licence. That duty sits with you as the hirer as well as with the agency, which is why a serious agency will offer the licence details without being asked.

The check itself is simple. The public register of SIA licence holders needs either the officer’s SIA licence number or their surname and other personal details, such as their date of birth. Ask the agency for the licence numbers of the officers it is deploying, run them through our SIA licence checker or the register directly, and confirm the licence type matches the job: door supervision for licensed premises, security guarding for the rest, close protection for a named person. One more check most organisers miss: government guidance says a business that supplies other organisations with security operatives as part of a contract for services needs its directors and managers to hold a licence too. If the agency’s directors cannot show their own licence numbers, ask why.

What does SIA approved contractor status tell you?

That the company chose to be assessed, and passed. The Security Industry Authority’s Approved Contractor Scheme is a quality assurance scheme for the private security industry. Participation is voluntary, so any company in it has chosen to be. Approval is on a simple pass or fail basis and, importantly, the approval granted is for specific activities, not for the company as a whole. A firm can be approved for door supervision and not for security guarding.

Two things follow. First, approved status is a genuine signal, but it is not the law. An agency that is not in the scheme can still be fully licensed and perfectly good. Second, the claim has to be true. The SIA states that it is a criminal offence for a company to claim it is an approved contractor when it is not, including by displaying the scheme’s mark. If an agency says it is approved, ask which activities, and check the SIA’s register of approved contractors rather than the logo on the website.

What insurance and paperwork should an agency show you?

A public liability certificate, a risk assessment and method statement, and a deployment plan, all before the day. Public liability insurance is what pays if a guest is hurt or property is damaged during the agency’s work. Ask for the certificate and check the cover level and the expiry date. Shoreditch Security carries £5 million of public liability cover and provides method statements and risk assessments as standard.

The paperwork is not box-ticking. A risk assessment written for your event tells you the agency has actually thought about your entrances, your bar, your finish time and your crowd. It is also the document your venue, your insurer and, where it applies, the regulator will want to see. The government’s factsheet on the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, known as Martyn’s Law, explains that premises where between 200 and 799 people including staff may be present fall into the standard tier, and that the Security Industry Authority will discharge the regulatory functions under the Act. An agency that understands those procedures will say so in its plan without being asked.

How should a good agency plan and size your team?

From your layout, not from a ratio. The right agency asks about entrances, restricted areas, alcohol, finish time, guest profile and whether the event is ticketed before it names a number. It then matches roles to the job. Government guidance draws the line clearly: stewarding duties such as directing people to their seats, toilets or first-aid facilities do not need a licence, and nor does checking people have paid for entry or have an invitation, but if someone then refuses entry or makes a guest leave, they need a licence. A plan that puts stewards at the wayfinding points and SIA-licensed officers at the decisions is a plan written by someone who knows the rules.

Ask about licensing on the venue side too. A one-off event with alcohol on unlicensed premises in England or Wales needs a Temporary Event Notice, which covers events with fewer than 500 people at all times including staff, and the notice must be applied for at least 10 clear working days before the event. A good agency will ask whether you have one, because the conditions on it shape the plan. Our security guard calculator gives a starting figure from guest numbers, layout and timing, and a site visit turns it into a deployment plan with a named supervisor on larger jobs.

What are the red flags when choosing an event security agency?

Vagueness, mostly. Be wary of an agency that cannot give you licence numbers before the day, that says every officer is licensed but will not say which licence, or that describes itself as approved without saying for what. Be wary of a quote with a single round number and no hours or roles behind it, of a price that is far below the others, and of a firm that cannot name who will be in charge on the night. Be wary too of a company that promises a fixed number of officers before asking a single question about your venue.

None of these is proof of a bad agency. Together they are a pattern, and the pattern usually ends with the wrong people on your door. The fix is the checklist above: licences on the register, paperwork in hand, a plan that fits the room, and a quote you can read. Our guide on how to hire a security guard covers the step-by-step process.

How does booking with Shoreditch Security work?

The same way this checklist says it should. Every officer we deploy is SIA-licensed, we carry £5 million of public liability cover, and you get a written quote and a deployment plan before the day. Our minimum booking is four hours per guard, we accept bookings with as little as 24 hours’ notice, and we work across all areas of London plus the six Home Counties.

The first conversation is about your event: date, venue, guest numbers, licence and anything that worries you. Get a quote and we will send a clear price and a plan, or read our hire event security page for how it works from first call to post-event report.