SIA licence verification automation: time-saved data
ShiftTracker records SIA licences and chases expiry dates. It does not check them against the SIA register. Nobody at ShiftTracker has published a time-saved figure for that work, so this article sets out where the manual time goes and which parts the platform takes over. The manual check is still yours: open the SIA public register, compare the number, and record the result.
Where the manual time goes
Three blocks make up SIA licence verification. Someone collects the licence number and types it into the tracking system. Someone checks it on the SIA public register. Someone files the result and diarises the expiry. Each block carries error risk, and the diary is the part that fails most often.
What ShiftTracker handles
An agency uploads the licence on the officer's Compliance tab, with its expiry date, 16-digit number and licence type, then an Agency Admin presses Verify after checking the register. Verifying copies the number, type and expiry onto the officer's roster record. A daily sweep then notifies Agency Admins and Coordinators when the licence is within 30 days of expiry, daily in the final week, and the day after it expires. ShiftTracker blocks a verified officer from being rostered, proposed or confirmed for a shift dated after the expiry. There is no override.
The SIA Compliance Report lists every officer with licence number, type, expiry and status, exports to Excel or CSV, and links to the public register. "Valid" there means the expiry date typed in has not passed. It does not mean the SIA has confirmed the licence.
Why some firms skip the paperwork
Data entry is the common blocker. A licence typed onto the officer record but never uploaded as a document does not raise expiry alerts and does not block deployment. Only the verified document does both. The one-off job of uploading and verifying every current licence is what firms defer.
BS 7858:2019 expects employers to confirm that officers hold the licence their role needs. The standard specifies no method. A recorded, dated check by a named person satisfies it more reliably than an unrecorded one.
Where the saving is largest
Expiry tracking pays back most in new hire onboarding, in renewal clusters (a contract starting in April puts renewals in February and March), and across multi-site operations where officers are cross-referenced against several spreadsheets. For new hires, the licence is a final gate before deployment, and ShiftTracker enforces it at the shift.
For more on how ShiftTracker handles multi-site operations, see our guide to scheduling officers across multiple client sites. For a comparison with Timegate, see our ShiftTracker vs Timegate comparison.
Getting started
Record each officer's licence on the Compliance tab as a document with its expiry date. Check each number on the SIA public register and press Verify. Then use the SIA Compliance Report to confirm that every officer reads Valid and nobody is Expiring Soon. Officers with no licence on file read N/A.
The constraint on most security firms is deploying officers quickly once a contract is won. Every day between an officer accepting an offer and appearing on the rota is billable work lost. Having every licence verified and diarised before the contract starts closes that gap.
