"The Regulations abolishing the default retirement age have now been laid before Parliament and they have an unexpected sting in the tail,” writes Darren Newman, an employment law trainer, writer and consultant with 20 years’ experience of advising employers both large and small on employment law issues: “The way in which the transitional provisions have been drafted means that while it is still possible to force through the retirement of someone who reaches the age of 65 between 6th April and 30th September 2011, it will not be safe to retire someone who has already reached the age of...

At last we have some clarification on the question of what breaks a lone security guard is entitled to takewrites employment lawyer and Infologue.com legal columnist, Paul Housego of Beers LLP who specialise in employment law in the outsourced services sector. “The security industry is exempted from the strict requirements of the Working Time Regulations, provided there is compensatory rest given. It has never been clear exactly what this meant.The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Hughes -v- Corps of Commissionaires Management Ltd [(no 2) 2011 IRLR 100] has now given some clear advice, ...

Writing exclusively for Infologue.com, David Evans, the BSIA’s Director responsible for the Olympics continues his Countdown to the Olympics series with his third article; “In my first article for Infologue I described how the security planning for the 2012 Games sat within the UK’s Counter Terrorist Strategy, CONTEST, and how industry was recognised as an essential partner in that strategy. In my second article I explained how implementation of CONTEST was being undertaken by Government and encouraged in the private sector, and also explained how this translated into the Olympic aren...

In our second Infologue.com 2010 in review feature, James Kelly, Chief Executive of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) reflects exclusively for Infologue.com on the significant changes that have influenced the industry as well as the BSIA in 2010; “2010 has brought with it challenges and successes. Following the formation of the new Coalition Government, the BSIA kick-started a revised political engagement programme at the earliest opportunity, liaising with key figures from the Coalition and attending the Conservative Party Conference for the first time in October. At the c...

The Approved Contractors Scheme Assistant Director Andrew Shephard looks back at 2010 in the third of the Infologue.com 2010 in review series. Andrew Shephard writes; “Despite the economic climate, the Approved Contractor Scheme continues to grow with 682 UK companies being recognised as such – around 123,000 SIA-licensed operatives work for an approved contractor. “Over 93% of our approved contractors have successfully re-registered since March 2010 and 133 new applications were made for approval this year including many from new businesses. Forums, feedback and re-tenders “Since ...

Winning a contract is good news - but often the downside is the terms enjoyed by the employees you inherit, writes employment lawyer Paul Housego of Beers LLP who specialise in employment law in the outsourced services sector. In a previous piece on Infologue.com, Good news about tupe for a change! I described how the Parkwood Leisure case changed the law for employees whose contractual terms were varied by national renegotiation. In short they come with a snapshot of those terms, but there are no further automatic variations. Now we have Nationwide Building Society -v- Benn in the Employment...

Infologue.com fully supports the position of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) on opening the debate on in house licensing in the security guarding sector. However we believe that with a change of government, who weren’t to keen on regulating the security industry last time they were in power and more recently a hair’s breadth away from letting the axe fall on regulation in the security industry, this will require a well reasoned and cohesive approach from the private security sector. If the security industry continues with its resilient and united approach, which has been d...

In his second article for Infologue.com the BSIA’s Director responsible for the Olympics continues his Countdown to the Olympics exclusively on Infologue.com; “In my first article for Infologue I described how the security planning for the 2012 Games sat within the UK’s Counter Terrorist Strategy, CONTEST, and how industry was recognised as an essential partner in that strategy.  The move to making that partnership a reality was the formation of the UK Security & Resilience Industry Suppliers Community (RISC) in 2007.  This brought together the three major industry trade associati...

Chris Brogan, a Director of Security International Ltd who are corporate investigators who specialise in business intelligence, due diligence and pre-employment checks, comments on a recent statement by the UK Information Commissioner's Office; “The  said it will target private investigators who are still failing to notify it of their handling of personal data. In the statement ; “ David Smith, Deputy Commissioner at the ICO, has said "we will be writing to organisation’s providing them with advice and encouragement to notify. However, if that encouragement is ignored, we will take ac...

Due to the constant pressures of price from buyers of security our industry is in general focused on minimum or basic standards. Consideration should be given to the creation of a model of that identifies the basic skills sets required by the modern security officer.  An aspirational model could be pivotal in shifting the mindset of the buyer of security towards understanding the true value of a professional security officer, instead of focussing on basic pricing. A key driver of this sea change is the ever increasing skills required by professional security officers in their role as first re...