How do you choose a residential security company? It comes down to five questions: what you need protecting and why, whether every officer the company supplies is properly licensed and vetted, whether the company is insured and accountable, who will actually lead the team in your home, and whether they will write procedures for your house rather than bring a generic one. Price matters, but it should be the last question, not the first.
Hiring a residential security team is a task you want to get right the first time. You are asking people to live and work alongside your family, often around the clock. This guide sets out how to define the need, what to ask, the warning signs and the contract terms worth insisting on. For the same checks in brief, see how to choose a residential security company in London.
In short, before you sign:
- Define the need with everyone who knows how the house runs.
- Check every licence on the SIA’s public register.
- Ask about vetting, insurance and who leads the team.
- Ask for procedures written for your property.
- Agree a clear contract, with a way out if it does not work.
Would you let just anyone into your home to be near your loved ones? That is the question that should guide every step.
Step 1: Define What You Need
Start with the requirement, not the provider. Gather input from the people who understand how the house and the family work: family members, and staff such as the PA, house manager or head housekeeper. Between you, agree:
- What you are protecting: the people, the property, valuables, privacy, or all of them.
- When: around the clock, at night, while the family is away, or only for certain events.
- What worries you: a past incident, a threat, a public profile, a large house with many entrances.
- How you want it to feel: a visible deterrent or a discreet presence that fits around family life.
Write this down as a short brief. A good provider will ask you questions you had not thought of, because this is their specialist subject. If the risk is unclear, an independent risk assessment of the home and family is the right first step: it tells you what level of protection the evidence supports.
Step 2: Draw Up a Long List and Do Your Homework
Ask trusted friends and advisers whether they can recommend anyone they have used themselves. Add one or two firms from your own research. Then check each one before you speak to them:
- Read their reviews and look at the company’s history.
- Look at the profiles of their key people, and whether they have done this kind of work before.
- Note how long their staff tend to stay. A team that changes every few months will never learn your house.
Clients of good firms usually want to stay anonymous, so do not expect names. You can still expect references you can speak to and examples, without identifying details, of how they have handled similar homes.
Step 3: What to Ask Every Provider
Are all the officers licensed by the SIA?
Contract security staff in the UK need a licence from the Security Industry Authority (SIA). Staff a household employs directly, in-house, do not usually need one. Licences last three years, and you can check any officer’s licence yourself on the SIA’s public register. Working in a licensable role without a licence is an offence under the Private Security Industry Act 2001, punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine, or both. If close protection is part of the job, note that since 1 April 2026 close protection officers must complete refresher training to renew their licence (GOV.UK, Renew your SIA licence).
Ask for each officer’s licence number before they start, and check it.
Is the company an SIA Approved Contractor?
The SIA’s Approved Contractor Scheme is voluntary. It approves companies, not individuals, and approval lasts three years. Falsely claiming to be approved is a criminal offence (GOV.UK, Choosing an SIA approved contractor). If a company says it is approved, check the register of approved contractors. Approval is a useful sign of how a company is run, but it is not the only one: ask the other questions too.
How are officers vetted?
Licensing includes identity and criminal record checks, but a household needs more. Ask how the company checks:
- Right to work in the UK. Employing someone without it is illegal and attracts attention you do not want (GOV.UK, Check a job applicant’s right to work).
- Employment history, with gaps explained and referees spoken to, not just emailed.
- Character: how they behave around children, older relatives and staff.
- Screening to a standard: whether officers are screened to BS 7858, the British Standard for security screening of individuals.
- Ongoing checks: what happens if an officer’s circumstances change while they are with you.
If you also want your own household staff checked, professional staff vetting applies the same discipline to nannies, drivers and housekeepers.
Are they properly insured?
Insurance is no substitute for feeling safe in your own home, but you need to know that if something goes badly wrong, there is cover. Ask to see current certificates for employer’s liability, public liability and professional indemnity insurance. A company that can show robust cover is far more likely to be a bona fide business.
Who will lead the team in my home?
Ask for the names of the people who will run your contract: the team leader on site and the manager above them. Meet them before you sign. You are not hiring a company in the abstract; you are hiring the few people who will be in your house every day.
Will they write procedures for my property?
A professional team writes standard operating procedures for your house, not a generic folder. Ask whether they will cover:
- Visitor and contractor logs, and a separate incident log. A digital log is better than a paper book, which lets anyone signing in read previous visitors’ details.
- One rule for access: only security lets visitors in. Chefs, nannies, chauffeurs, housekeepers and house managers should tell security who they are expecting and when.
- CCTV and access control: every officer trained on your systems, how to report an incident and how to keep footage as evidence.
- Handover at every shift change: the outgoing officer prepares, both exchange updates and alerts, and the incoming officer checks before taking over.
Do the officers have the right temperament for a family home?
Residential officers protect people in their own home. They may deal with young children, older relatives and situations that have nothing to do with security. The best are calm, patient, courteous with neighbours, good at writing and reporting, and discreet. Many have backgrounds in close protection, the police or the armed forces, but character matters as much as experience.
Red Flags
Some answers should make you think again:
- Licences they cannot or will not show, or that do not match the register.
- Claims of SIA approval that are not on the register.
- No named team leader, or vagueness about who will turn up.
- A generic plan that could be for any building, or no written procedures at all.
- Loose talk about other clients. A firm that names the families it protects will name yours.
- A plan to turn your home into a fortress when a light, effective approach would do.
- A price far below everyone else’s. See below.
Why the Cheapest Bid Is Often the Dearest
Would you sell your house to the lowest bidder? Of course not. Yet it happens with security.
Some years ago a solicitor asked us to help a wealthy client replace the 24/7 residential security team at their large house in London. The team had become complacent. Our discussions went well until price, where we found ourselves at opposite ends: the solicitor expected the kind of guarding a company provides for an office. We explained that a residential team is looking after something far more valuable than an office or a warehouse: the family itself, people who may be at risk because of their wealth. The team needs to be experienced, well trained and well paid, so that they value the job and have the family’s interests at heart.
The contract went to the lowest bidder. Less than three months later we were invited back: the new company had turned the family home into a fortress instead of a sensible, light-touch solution. We took over that day, and the home became a home again.
Often a family’s trusted adviser buys security on their behalf: a solicitor, a family office, an accountant or a house manager. They are experts in their own fields but may never have bought specialist security. The lesson is simple: buy the service first and the price second. A good team costs what it costs because of who is in it. Every arrangement depends on the size of the home, the hours and the level of protection, and should be quoted individually.
Step 4: Shortlist Two or Three and Agree the Contract
Narrow your list to two or three providers who fit. Give each the same outline brief, ask for examples of their procedures, and meet the people who would lead your team. Then agree a contract that covers:
- Scope: exactly what the team will do, the hours and the number of officers.
- Staffing: the licences and experience required, and how officers are replaced if one does not fit.
- Procedures: written for your property, reviewed and updated as life changes.
- Reporting: how and how often you hear from the team, and how incidents are reported.
- Confidentiality: what officers may and may not share, during and after the contract.
- Review and exit: a trial period, regular reviews, and a notice period that lets you leave if quality falls.
Get this right and, once the team is in place, it should simply work.
Is Your Current Team Up to Scratch?
If you already have a team, the same questions apply. It can be hard to judge people whose job you do not do yourself. Check that every officer is licensed and has the right to work, that the company’s insurance is current, and that procedures exist for your house. If any of these are missing, it may be time to look at your options.
FAQs
Do residential security officers need an SIA licence?
Officers supplied under contract by a security company need an SIA licence for the work they do. Staff a household employs directly usually do not. Licences last three years. You can check any officer on the SIA’s public register at GOV.UK. Working in a licensable role without a licence is an offence under the Private Security Industry Act 2001.
How can I check whether a security company is SIA approved?
Search the SIA’s register of approved contractors, which lists every company approved under the Approved Contractor Scheme. The scheme is voluntary, approves companies rather than individuals, and approval lasts three years. Falsely claiming to be an approved contractor is a criminal offence, so a claim that does not appear on the register is a serious warning sign.
What should a residential security contract include?
It should set out the scope of work, the hours and number of officers, the licences and experience required, and how officers are replaced. It should also cover written procedures for your home, how incidents are reported, confidentiality during and after the contract, a trial period, regular reviews and a fair notice period, so you can leave if quality falls.
Why not choose the cheapest residential security provider?
A very low bid usually means lower pay, less experience or fewer officers than the job needs. People protecting a family need to be capable, well trained and committed to staying. Cheap teams tend to turn over quickly, cut corners on procedures and, as our own example shows, can make a home feel like a fortress. Judge the service first, then the price.
What to Do Next
If you are choosing a team, or reviewing the one you have, talk to us about residential security in London. If you need cover from day one, see how round-the-clock manned security can be arranged around your household.