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In tandem with this, the Home Office has published a Regulatory Impact Assessment that outlines its intention to raise the fee. The reason? To enable the Regulator to meet its need of being self-funding, and satisfy the ongoing objectives of the regulatory process. According to an official SIA Press Release, the increase is also necessary 鈥渂ecause the income from licensing has been less than expected鈥�. The shortfall stems from 鈥渦nreliable and unavailable data gathered in 2002-2003, before the start of licensing, and from changes taking place across various industry sectors.鈥�

The planned fee increase is conditional upon the making of a Section 102 Order under the Finance (No 2) Act 1987, followed by the appropriate negative regulations under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. It has been planned in consideration of the future licensable population (using more reliable data this time), the likely churn rate across the private security industry and general SIA running costs.

The SIA has suggested it will move towards renewing the licence fee on an annual basis. However, it鈥檚 unlikely that future increases will be as significant as this one because business planning is now undertaken with better data.

Writing in this month鈥檚 Letters To The Editor Section , the SIA鈥檚 acting chief executive Andy Drane states: 鈥淲e appreciate that the planned fee increase may present additional challenges for individuals and companies operating within the private security industry, particularly given the heavy degree of investment to date.鈥� Drane also reiterates why the increase is deemed necessary.

The rise in licence application fee costs is around the 30% mark. It is most certainly a hike in price that will not be to everyone鈥檚 liking. Also writing in this month鈥檚 Letters To The Editor Section, Shaun Murphy 鈥� national operations manager at EFM Security 鈥� talks of slipping standards, even more challenging recruitment problems and 鈥渟erious impacts鈥� on SMEs as a direct result of the proposed cost realignment.

We shall have to see what 鈥榗omes out in the wash鈥�. One hopes that as enforcement bites and clients begin to enjoy the benefits of regulation cost becomes a secondary issue.