Top Up or Refresher – which qualification do learners need?
From October 2021, anyone wanting to renew their Door Supervisor or Security Officer SIA licence has needed the relevant Top Up qualification. In the summer this year, the SIA announced that from 1st April 2025 anyone wanting to renew their licence would need a new ‘Refresher’ qualification. So which qualification do learners need if they want to renew their licence?
The learner was awarded their first licence linked qualification after April 2021:
If the learner achieved their first licence linked qualification after 1st April 2021 and will be renewing their licence from 1st April 2025 onwards, they will need to complete the new Refresher qualification.
The learner holds a pre-2021 qualification and a Top Up qualification:
If the learner achieved their first licence linked qualification before 1st April 2021 AND holds a Top Up qualification and will be renewing their licence after 1st April 2025, they will need to complete the new Refresher qualification.
The learners holds a pre-2021 qualification but NO Top Up qualification:
If the learner achieved their first licence linked qualification before 1st April 2021 but does not hold a Top Up qualification (e.g. they renewed their licence before the Top Up qualification was mandated in October 2021) and will be renewing their licence before1st April 2025, they will need to register on the Top Up qualification before the last registration of 31st January 2025. They must be awarded the qualification by 31st March 2025.
Important note:
The SIA may refuse to accept any qualification awarded after 31st March 2025. It is therefore important that learners successfully complete all assessments of their Top Up qualification and the learner completes their licence renewal application on their SIA account well ahead of the SIA cut-off date of 31st March 2025.
