Pubs and clubs are facing a shortfall of bouncers and some may have to close to avoid fines under new government regulations aimed at cleaning up the security industry’s image.
The leisure industry needs between 45,000 and 90,000 bouncers, but only 23,700 have applied for accreditation for the new Security Industry Authority (SIA), which governs so-called “door supervisors”.
The British Beer and Pub Association claims that a further 20,000 licensing requests are stuck in a backlog on the SIA database, although the authority denies this.
Registration, which costs £190 for three years and involves four days’ training, is already compulsory in most parts of England and Wales and will be by April 11 in London.
In some cities police have been operating a ‘soft-touch’ policy to give staff more time to register, but from 1 April they will start to enforce the law.
