SIA Approved Contractor Scheme Documents and Policies Required

The Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) is the Security Industry Authority's voluntary standard for providers of private security services. Approval signals to clients that a supplier meets a recognised quality benchmark, and it is widely treated as a baseline requirement in security tenders and on regulated sites.

ACS is assessed against a self-assessment workbook covering business performance indicators, with an independent assessment by an SIA-appointed assessing body. The documents behind those indicators range from standard business policies to security-specific records such as staff screening to BS 7858.

This guide sets out the documentation an ACS application depends on, with particular attention to the vetting and training records that separate the security industry from a general quality scheme.

How ACS Is Assessed

ACS is built on a self-assessment workbook of indicators grouped across business areas such as leadership and strategy, commercial and financial management, resources, people, and service delivery and continual improvement. You score your organisation against each indicator, then an independent assessing body appointed by the SIA verifies your evidence, usually through a site visit and document review.

Approval is not a one-off. You must maintain the standard and are reassessed periodically, so the documents need to be living records rather than a pack assembled for the first audit. Many indicators ask for evidence that a policy is followed and reviewed, not simply that it exists.

Core Policies and Documents

1. Health and Safety Policy

A written health and safety policy is a legal requirement at five or more employees, as HSE guidance confirms, supported by risk assessments for security activities such as lone working, conflict management and working at events.

2. Staff Screening and Vetting Records

Screening to BS 7858, the British Standard for security screening of individuals in a secure environment, is central to ACS. You need documented evidence of identity checks, employment history, financial probity checks and the handling of any gaps, held securely and kept current.

3. SIA Licensing Records

Records confirming that frontline staff hold valid SIA licences for the activities they carry out, with a process for checking validity and renewals. Deploying unlicensed staff on licensable work undermines the whole application.

4. Training and Competence Records

A training matrix and certificates covering licence-linked qualifications, refresher training and role-specific competence, with a documented process for identifying and meeting training needs.

5. Recruitment, Equality and HR Policies

Documented recruitment and selection procedures, an equality and diversity policy, and supporting HR documents such as disciplinary and grievance procedures, which the people-focused indicators of the workbook draw on.

6. Data Protection and Information Security

A data protection policy reflecting UK GDPR, covering how you handle screening data, CCTV and assignment records. Security contractors hold particularly sensitive personal data, so information security arrangements are scrutinised closely.

7. Standard Operating Procedures and Assignment Instructions

Documented assignment instructions for each contract and standard operating procedures for the services you deliver, so that service quality does not depend on individual memory.

8. Complaints, Quality and Business Continuity

A documented complaints procedure, arrangements for monitoring and improving service quality, and a business continuity plan covering how cover is maintained if staff or sites are disrupted.

Quick Reference

Document	Purpose
Health and safety policy and risk assessments	Legal duty and people-safety indicators
BS 7858 screening and vetting records	Confirms staff are properly vetted for secure roles
SIA licence checking records	Confirms frontline staff are licensed for their work
Training matrix and competence records	Evidences role-specific competence and refreshers
Recruitment, equality and HR policies	Supports the people and resources indicators
Data protection and information security policy	Governs sensitive screening, CCTV and assignment data
Assignment instructions and SOPs	Standardises service delivery on each contract
Complaints procedure and business continuity plan	Service quality and continuity indicators

Common Gaps in ACS Applications

• Screening records that do not fully meet BS 7858, with unexplained gaps in employment history.
• No documented process for checking SIA licence validity and renewals.
• Generic assignment instructions that are not tailored to each site or contract.
• Data protection arrangements that do not address CCTV or screening data specifically.
• Policies that exist on paper but show no evidence of being reviewed or followed.

How Policy Pros Can Help

We write the policies and procedures the ACS workbook draws on, tailored to security operations. Our health and safety policies service covers the policy and risk assessments for lone working, conflict management and event security that the people-safety indicators require.

Because security contractors hold highly sensitive personal data, our IT security policies service produces the data protection and information security documentation that covers screening records, CCTV and assignment data.

If your work also takes you onto construction or regulated sites, our SSIP accreditation policies guide explains the health and safety pre-qualification many of those clients ask for alongside ACS approval.