SIA ACS Consultancy

What the ACS is

The Approved Contractor Scheme is a voluntary accreditation run by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) for organisations supplying licensable security services in the UK. Approved contractors are independently assessed against a published set of requirements covering how the business is run, how staff are recruited and vetted, and how service quality is managed.

ACS status is a commercial differentiator: many clients, particularly in the public sector and large private estates, will only tender to approved contractors. Approved status also allows limited deployment of staff who have applied for but not yet received a licence, under the scheme’s conditions.

Where businesses commonly struggle

• Vetting and screening files that do not stand up to assessment against BS 7858
• Evidence that exists in practice but is not documented or retrievable
• Commitment to quality and continuous improvement not being demonstrable
• Scoring that clears the threshold but never improves year on year
• Renewal treated as an annual scramble rather than a maintained system

How we support you

Readiness review and self-assessment

We work through the ACS requirements with you, establish an honest baseline, and identify what needs to be in place before assessment. You get a clear picture of effort and timescale before committing.

Vetting and screening

Screening is where applications most often come unstuck. We review your vetting process and records against BS 7858 requirements, close gaps in the files, and put a repeatable process in place for new starters.

Documentation and evidence

We help you build the policies, procedures and records the assessment expects — written to reflect how you genuinely operate, and organised so evidence can be produced on the day without a search.

Assessment preparation

We prepare your team for the assessment itself: what will be asked, who needs to be available, and how to present evidence clearly.

Score improvement and renewal

After approval, we help you maintain the system between assessments and target the areas that will lift your score at renewal rather than simply holding it.

Working alongside ISO

ACS and ISO certification overlap considerably — particularly ISO 9001 for quality management and ISO 45001 for health and safety. Where you hold or intend to pursue both, we build a single integrated system so evidence is produced once and used for both, rather than maintaining two parallel sets of paperwork.

What you get

• ACS scoring and self-assessment support
• Vetting and screening policy and file review against BS 7858
• Documentation and evidence pack aligned to the requirements
• Assessment day preparation
• Ongoing compliance and renewal support