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The Security Industry Authority gave the British Institute of Innkeeping Awarding Body formal notice on July 14 to terminate its recognition as an awarding organisation for SIA licence-linked security qualifications. With immediate effect, BIIAB cannot register new learners for that training. From August 10 it cannot issue any new licence-linked qualifications at all.
The regulator, which published the decision on July 15, cited "serious and persistent material breaches" of the recognition agreement that it said cannot be remedied. It is the first time the SIA has stripped an awarding organisation of its recognition.
The action follows Operation RESOLUTE, the SIA's programme of unannounced, intelligence-led inspections at training centres. Inspectors found serious examples of training malpractice among providers registered with BIIAB. In the past month alone, the SIA carried out 24 unannounced inspections at centres across England.
The regulator had already removed BIIAB from its course finder tool for door supervisor and security guarding qualifications on July 9. That came after the exams regulator Ofqual issued a Direction ordering BIIAB to stop taking on new learners for the affected courses. Ofqual's action built on earlier controls placed on the body in September 2025.
Tim Archer, the SIA's executive director of licensing and standards, said it is "critical to public safety that front line security operatives obtain their SIA licence through legitimately earned qualifications."
SIA front line licences require mandatory qualifications before an operative can apply or renew, with training delivered by about 650 independent providers across the UK. BIIAB had been approved for five licence-linked qualifications, including the Level 2 awards for door supervisors and security officers. The SIA holds recognition agreements with five other awarding organisations, and last financial year 158,000 licence-linked qualifications were issued across all six. The SIA said it will work with Ofqual and the remaining bodies to keep enough capacity for learners.
BIIAB has 20 working days' notice to bring its involvement in awarding the qualifications to an orderly close. The termination lands amid a wider SIA push against fraud and poor standards in the commercial training sector that supplies the UK licence.
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