A UK security company faces a strange market. There are too many general workforce tools. There are too few platforms that understand how a security business really runs. That means SIA licences, patrol checks, lone worker safety, and client reports in the form a client expects. This guide compares the main platforms used by UK security companies and explains what to evaluate before committing to a subscription.
Connect with us about security guard software · · Replies within 24 hours
The Security Industry Authority licences people in six categories. Security Guard. Door Supervisor. Close Protection. CCTV, for public space surveillance. Cash and Valuables in Transit. Key Holding. Each licence is role-specific and non-transferable. A door supervisor licence does not authorise the holder to operate a CCTV system, and vice versa.
The Private Security Industry Act 2001 makes it a criminal offence for a contractor to deploy an unlicensed operative in a licensable role. The contractor, not just the individual, can be prosecuted. A fine can reach £5,000. The contractor can also lose its approved contractor scheme status. It can then no longer bid for a major commercial contract.
Your software must therefore stop you rostering somebody into a role they are not licensed for. At the very least it must make that hard to do. The system must hold more than a licence number. It must hold the type, the date it was issued and the date it ends. It must then refuse any shift that would put an unlicensed person on site. Platforms that store licence data in a notes field, with no link to the rota, gives false comfort.
The same technology categories used in domiciliary care for electronic call monitoring appear in security guard management for patrol verification. The relative merits differ slightly in the security context.
NFC tags are fixed at specific locations on a patrol route. The guard taps their smartphone or a dedicated reader at each checkpoint, generating a timestamped, geolocated record. NFC is considered the most tamper-resistant verification method because the tag must be physically present at the checkpoint location. A tag can be hidden, so that a client or a member of the public does not know where it is. That helps at a sensitive installations. The limitation is the cost of deploying tags on a new site and the occasional failure of low-cost tags in outdoor or high-traffic environments.
QR codes are cheaper to deploy than NFC tags and require no specialist hardware: any smartphone camera suffices. However, QR codes can be photographed and scanned remotely, meaning a guard could theoretically log a checkpoint scan without visiting the location. For high-security contracts or clients that have experienced fraud, QR-only verification is inadequate. Some platforms answer this with GPS. They accept the scan only if the telephone is near the recorded position of that checkpoint.
GPS follows the position of the guard's device throughout the shift. It needs nothing installed at the site. It also gives the fullest audit trail, a complete movement record rather than discrete checkpoint scans. It has three limits. It uses the telephone battery. GPS gets less accurate inside a building. Some guards feel that constant tracking invades their privacy. Most platforms offer GPS as a layer on top of checkpoint verification rather than as the sole verification method.
Connect with us about security guard software · · Replies within 24 hours
| Platform | SIA Compliance | Patrol Verification | Client Portal | Pricing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TrackTik | Licence tracking with scheduling integration | NFC, QR, GPS | Yes, configurable | ~£5-10/officer/month | Mid to large companies wanting a full international platform |
| Guardsman | Licence storage and alerts | Limited; GPS via mobile | Basic reporting | Quote-based | UK companies needing strong payroll and billing integration |
| Ingeni | Licence storage | NFC and QR; strong checkpoint focus | Client patrol reports | Quote-based | Companies whose primary need is verifiable patrol evidence |
| Siren | Licence management with compliance dashboard | GPS + mobile check-in | Yes | Quote-based | Growing UK companies needing all-in-one operations and HR |
| TEAM Software (Securitas platform) | Full compliance management | NFC, QR, GPS | Enterprise portal | Enterprise; quote-based | Large corporate and national security contractors |
| ClockOn / Deputy | None: general workforce tools only | None | None | From ~£2/user/month | Very small operators using generic workforce scheduling |
Commercial clients, particularly large retailers, logistics operators, and facilities managers, increasingly specify reporting requirements in security contracts. These typically include:
The quality of client reporting is increasingly a differentiator in contract tenders. Some companies can show clean digital reporting, with a portal of their own for each client. They win work over companies that still email a PDF by hand.
The challenge is that different clients often want their reports formatted differently. A large facilities company has its own report templates. It may ask for the data in a set format, which feeds its own systems. A general portal template rarely satisfies those clients. The need to shape a report is one of the most common reasons a security company grows out of its first platform.
Lone worker safety is required by law. It comes from the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Some guards work alone, and often at night. Their employer must have a system that watches their safety, and answers an emergency.
In practice that means a check-in timetable. The guard confirms they are safe at set times. A missed check-in raises an alarm, and starts the escalation. The software that manages this must be reliable. A check-in system that fails to raise an alarm is worse than no system. It makes you feel safe when you are not.
Platforms that handle lone worker protection within the main guard management system are preferable to those that require a separate lone worker app. Two apps on one telephone raise the risk that a guard opens the wrong one. Two sets of data are also harder to match when you investigate an incident.
Security company payroll is more complex than most industries. One person can be paid five ways in a week. Base rate hours. Overtime at time and a half. Bank holiday at double time. A night allowance. Bonuses in their contract. You then bill the client for the same week. The same hours must map to your contract rates. Those sit above the pay rates by a margin, and that margin changes with the shift type.
Security companies that cannot reconcile operational hours automatically from their guard management system to payroll and invoicing carry a significant administrative overhead. This reconciliation is typically done in spreadsheets, and spreadsheet errors in this calculation translate directly to either underpayment of staff or under-billing of clients.
Ask any platform two exact questions. How does a check-in on a telephone become a payroll figure? How does the same data become a client invoice? The answer may include an export, an import, or somebody typing. Each of those causes errors and costs time, and both grow as you grow.
For large operations needing analytics and compliance, TrackTik is the enterprise standard. For patrol-focused operations, Silvertrac is the strongest at checkpoint verification. For mid-sized companies wanting an all-in-one platform, GuardsPro covers scheduling, GPS, and invoicing. For UK SIA compliance tracking, Belfry is purpose-built. See our Parim alternatives guide.
Parim charges per-user, cost-effective for small teams but expensive at scale. TrackTik is enterprise-priced. Connecteam has a free tier for up to 10 users. GuardsPro and Belfry are competitively priced for mid-sized companies. Most security companies spend £200 to £800 per month depending on guard count and features.
Belfry (UK-built) has the strongest SIA licence tracking with automated expiry alerts. TrackTik and GuardsPro support licence management with configuration. Parim handles basic document management. Automated SIA tracking prevents guards working with expired licences, which carries criminal penalties.
Belfry and TrackTik offer dedicated lone worker features. GuardsPro includes GPS tracking for lone worker support. UK health and safety obligations for lone workers are tightening. See our lone worker software guide.
The figure above is worth holding onto. At 200 officers, £7 a month each is £16,800 a year, and it never stops.
The software does the same work for your two hundredth officer as for your first. You pay more because you grew. That arrangement also decides the rest of this article. Your data lives in the vendor form, so leaving is expensive. The price can therefore rise, and a client report you need can stay unbuilt.
We charge for the build, not for your headcount. You own the system, the data and the machine. Every security company we build for shares one foundation. It already holds a guard, a licence, a site, a shift, a checkpoint and an incident. You pay only for the part that is your own, and another officer costs nothing.
We set out the full cost in what does it cost to own and run your own systems. We explain the shared foundation in bespoke software for a whole sector.
Most security companies below around 30 officers can manage adequately with a standard platform like Guardsman or Siren. Five things grow together as you grow. Complex billing. Reports each client wants their own way. Patrol checks. SIA compliance. Lone worker safety. Together they pass what any single ready-made platform handles well.
Common triggers for moving to a bespoke system include:
Connect with us about security guard software · · Replies within 24 hours
TrackTik has the most features in the UK market, for a mid-sized or large company. Its patrol checks, client portals and telephone tools are all strong. Guardsman and Siren are strong UK-developed alternatives with better payroll and billing integration for UK-specific requirements. Ingeni is the specialist choice where patrol verification evidence is the primary requirement.
Some companies have complex billing, demanding clients, or several service lines. They pay for each officer, and still work around the limits of the platform. A system of their own is usually worth more over time.