The problem
An SIA license doesn't renew itself, and an officer whose license lapses can't legally be deployed. With 25 officers, renewals come round regularly, and a missed one means pulling an officer off a contract at short notice. The SIA lets officers apply up to 4 months before expiry, so the warning needs to come well before that.
What the AI does
Record each officer's license number, sector and expiry date in your primary staff records, and check it against the SIA's public register. Connecteam's HR & Skills hub lets you store documents with an expiration date and, on the Expert plan, get notified before documents expire. Upload each officer's license and first aid certificate with its expiry date. Separately, a named manager checks the SIA's free Licence Status Checker watchlist each month. The Connecteam alert is a backup to that check, not a replacement.
A worked example
A manned guarding company in Coventry employs 25 licensed officers across 8 sites. The operations manager keeps each officer's license and first aid certificate in Connecteam with expiry dates, and checks the SIA watchlist on the first working day of each month.
Before
25 expiry dates in a spreadsheet updated when someone remembers; renewals found late
After
All 25 licenses recorded with expiry dates, checked against the SIA's register every month, with a Connecteam alert well before each expiry
What it's worth
A deadline safeguard rather than a cash saving: no officer is deployed on an expired license because a renewal was missed. Connecteam HR & Skills Expert, which adds document expiration dates and alerts, is $99 (about $98£74€88A$142C$139) a month billed yearly or $119 (about $118£89€106A$171C$167) monthly for the first 30 users.
How to set it up
- Record every officer's SIA license number, sector and expiry date in your primary staff records, and check each one against the SIA's public register.
- Set up the SIA's free Licence Status Checker with a watchlist of your officers, and have a named manager review it on the same day each month.
- In Connecteam's HR & Skills hub, upload each license and first aid certificate with its expiry date and switch on notifications before expiry.
- Start each renewal as soon as the SIA allows, up to 4 months before expiry; the renewal fee is $271£204€243A$392C$384 and agree whether the company pays it.
- Check whether refresher training is needed and that any first aid qualification it depends on is valid for at least another 12 months.
What goes wrong
- Automated alerts can fail silently: a wrong date, a notification switched off, a manager who left. The monthly check against the SIA's register is what you rely on.
- Document expiry alerts are listed on the Expert plan; the cheaper HR & Skills plans don't include them.
- An expired license can't be renewed; the officer must apply for a new one, which takes longer. Act on the first alert, not the last.
- License records are personal data, and criminal record checks sit behind them. Limit who can see them in Connecteam.