What UK guarding firms need for SIA ACS (Approved Contractor Scheme) accreditation — including BS7858 screening evidence, records and audit trails.
Category: Compliance · Published: 2026-06-14
The SIA's Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) is a quality mark that opens doors to bigger contracts. This guide covers what assessors look for and how to walk into an assessment prepared.
The Approved Contractor Scheme is a voluntary accreditation run by the SIA. Achieving — and improving — your ACS score signals to clients that your operations meet a recognised standard.
Many tenders, especially in the public sector and large corporates, require or strongly favour ACS-approved contractors.
A major area of scrutiny is whether your staff are properly screened. Assessors want to see consistent BS7858 screening with a clear, retrievable audit trail for each officer.
Being able to produce a complete, time-stamped screening pack per officer on demand is the difference between a smooth assessment and a scramble.
ACS isn't only about having policies — it's about evidencing that you follow them consistently. Training records, licence tracking, incident handling and supervision all come under review.
The firms that score well treat compliance as a system, not a once-a-year paperwork exercise. Keeping screening, licences, incidents and records in one place makes assessment evidence a click away rather than a week of digging.
No, the ACS is voluntary — but it's often required or preferred in tenders, so in practice it can be essential for winning certain contracts.
Consistent BS7858 screening with a solid audit trail is a key evidence area assessors examine during ACS assessment.
Inconsistency — having a policy but not being able to evidence that it's followed for every officer, every time.
By keeping screening, licences, incidents and records in one auditable system so evidence is retrievable instantly.
Pulcify turns the checks described above into an automated workflow: licence and vetting status tracked per operative, expiry alerts before anything lapses, and audit-ready evidence packs generated on demand.
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