Helping teams understand their role during serious incidents and disruptive events.
- Initial actions
- Command and communication
- Escalation
- Continuity considerations
Our role is to support organisations through each stage of that process.
Helping organisations develop plans that are realistic, proportionate and capable of being implemented during genuine emergencies.
Training requirements depend on your organisation, your activities and the level of risk. We can help identify suitable options following an initial discussion.
Yes. We regularly deliver courses at client sites throughout the UK, subject to suitable facilities being available.
Yes. Some clients require consultancy only, while others choose a combination of consultancy and staff development.
Assessments should be reviewed regularly and whenever there are significant changes to the organisation, premises, operations or threat profile.
Yes. We support organisations by reviewing current arrangements, identifying gaps and helping develop practical action plans.
Our articles explain legal requirements in clear language and focus on what organisations need to do in practice.
Our consultants regularly share observations from across the security profession.
This week’s priority: The SIA says it will not accept BIIAB licence-linked qualifications granted on or after 10 August 2026. Qualifications granted before that date remain accepted. [1][2]
Welcome to this week’s DTC Knowledge Hub briefing. The main operational issue is the 10 August 2026 cut-off affecting BIIAB SIA licence-linked qualifications. Alongside that immediate training-sector change, we look at protective-security readiness, enacted state-threat legislation, emergency-planning developments, first-aid guidance and good practice that can be transferred between sectors.
Operational action: DTC recommends that any centre, subcontractor or employer using external training providers checks awarding-body approval and the actual qualification award date, not simply the course attendance date.
Operational action: organisations should continue improving existing protective-security procedures, staff awareness, exercising and governance rather than waiting for commencement.
Operational action: higher-risk organisations should ensure security, procurement, due-diligence and escalation arrangements can identify and respond to state-linked threat concerns.
Operational action: test whether staff can explain what to report, who receives the report, and what they should do during an escalating security incident.
Operational action: DTC will review the findings when published and identify practical implications for organisational communication, exercises and community-facing preparedness.
Operational action: avoid creating a security control that introduces a foreseeable safety hazard or obstructs emergency egress.
Operational action: first-aid provision should be matched to the workplace risk profile, likely casualty types, response times and staff competence.
Operational action: maintain a lessons register showing what changed, who approved it and how effectiveness was tested.
Operational action: retail, healthcare, leisure and local-government sites can use the same cycle – assess, control, train, test, learn and review.
For security training providers, employers and licence applicants, 10 August 2026 is not simply an administrative date. It is the point at which the SIA says BIIAB-awarded licence-linked qualifications will no longer be accepted if granted on or after that date. Ofqual’s Direction placed restrictions on BIIAB registrations for specified private-security qualifications, and the SIA subsequently terminated its recognition arrangement with the awarding body. [1][2][3]
The SIA’s current published guidance says that qualifications granted by BIIAB before 10 August 2026 remain accepted, but qualifications granted on or after 10 August 2026 will not be accepted for SIA licensing. This distinction makes the qualification award date critical. A learner may have attended training earlier, but organisations should rely on the formal qualification record and awarding date when checking eligibility. [1]
Centres should review any affected learner cohorts, preserve accurate registration and assessment records, verify which awarding organisation is responsible for each qualification, and avoid giving learners informal assurances that are not supported by the current SIA position. Where a centre works through more than one awarding organisation, internal course administration should make the awarding body obvious from enrolment through certification.
Employers buying security training should not assume that every Level 2 security qualification is interchangeable. Due diligence should cover the awarding organisation, the centre’s approval status, the qualification title, the date of award and whether the qualification is accepted for the relevant SIA licence route. Procurement teams should also ensure contractual documentation requires providers to notify them of any regulatory restriction affecting qualification recognition.
Applicants should retain their qualification evidence and confirm that the qualification appears within the SIA’s accepted routes. Anyone whose BIIAB qualification was granted before the cut-off should keep evidence of the award date. Anyone affected by an award on or after the cut-off should seek direct advice from their training provider, awarding organisation or the SIA rather than assuming the qualification will be accepted.
This episode is a useful reminder that training compliance is a live assurance issue. A provider can have competent tutors and still create risk for learners and clients if awarding-body status, qualification recognition, assessment controls or certification routes are not actively monitored. Organisations buying regulated training should therefore treat awarding-body approval and regulatory status as part of supplier assurance.
For any regulated or licence-linked training purchase, check: the awarding organisation; centre approval; exact qualification title; learner registration process; tutor/assessor competence; IQA arrangements; assessment security; certificate issue process; regulatory recognition; and a clear escalation route if approval changes.
The key practical message is straightforward: check the qualification award date and current SIA recognition status before relying on a BIIAB licence-linked qualification. More broadly, organisations should build regulatory-status checks into routine training governance so that changes are identified before they affect learners, staff deployment or licensing.
This week’s DTC Knowledge Hub update focuses on a date the security-training sector cannot ignore: 10 August 2026. The SIA says it will not accept BIIAB licence-linked qualifications granted on or after today. We also cover Martyn’s Law readiness, the National Security (State Threats) Act, resilience planning, first aid and cross-sector security good practice. The key theme this week is assurance: check the status, verify the evidence and make sure governance keeps pace with regulatory change. #SecurityTraining #SIA #ProtectiveSecurity #MartynsLaw #CounterTerrorism #EmergencyPlanning #DTC
This Knowledge Hub article provides general operational information and does not constitute legal advice.
Specialist security training and consultancy for NHS Trusts, hospitals, healthcare providers and associated support services. DTC helps organisations strengthen staff confidence, reduce risk and improve preparedness through practical, healthcare-focused training.
If a serious security incident happened at your site today, would your staff know what to do — and would your procedures work in practice?
DTC can help you identify gaps, build capability and test preparedness before an incident exposes them.
Training can be delivered as individual sessions or combined into a wider healthcare security development programme.
Core security awareness designed for healthcare environments.
Practical skills for preventing escalation and managing challenging behaviour safely.
Helping staff recognise, reduce and respond to workplace violence and aggression.
Developing proportionate protective security awareness across healthcare sites.
Supporting healthcare organisations as they consider preparedness under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.
Helping teams understand their role during serious incidents and disruptive events.
Healthcare-focused planning and awareness for complex movement and shelter decisions.
Developing practical skills for identifying vulnerabilities and reducing operational security risk.
Bespoke exercises built around the organisation’s actual risks, site layout and procedures.
Support for managers responsible for security, safety, compliance and organisational preparedness.
Training for staff who may be exposed to confrontation, aggression or elevated security risk.
Customised training built around your workforce, sites and operational risk profile.
Independent review of current arrangements, procedures, training needs and areas requiring further development.
Assistance with security risk identification, emergency procedures, protective security considerations and operational planning.
Tabletop and scenario-based exercises designed to test whether plans are understood and workable under pressure.
DTC can work with healthcare organisations of different sizes, functions and risk profiles.
Our aim is simple: give staff and managers training they can actually use. Effective security is not achieved through policy alone. It depends on people understanding risk, recognising their responsibilities and being confident enough to act appropriately when something goes wrong.
If you want to review your current security training, strengthen staff preparedness or develop a bespoke NHS and healthcare security programme, speak to DTC.
DTC training and consultancy should be integrated with each organisation’s own governance, clinical, security, emergency planning and health & safety arrangements. References to Martyn’s Law describe readiness and preparedness support and do not imply regulator approval or certification.