Unless we have given you permission to do otherwise, you must only sub-contract to SIA approved contractors. Your customers have contracted an SIA approved contractor and will therefore expect the service they receive to be from an approved contractor.

In exceptional circumstances, we may allow you to sub-contract to a company we have not approved. You need our permission to do this and your customer must also agree to it. Any permission we grant will be for a limited time – usually no longer than 3 months.

How to ask for permission

Fill out the Sub-contracting:Application Exceptionalto circumstancessub-contract outside of the ACS form (ODT, 28.331.2 KB).

UseYou themust ‘supportingfill case’in boxall tofields tellmarked uswith whyan yourasterisk circumstances(*). areWe exceptional. Givewill usreject asany muchform detailin aswhich possible.

Youany shouldof alsothese usefields thisare boxleft to tell us:blank.

• why you chose this particular sub-contractor
• where they will work
• when they will work

Upload the form to your SIA online business account. Select ‘Help’, then select ‘I‘Other’ wantas tothe makecategory. aEnter business“sub-contractor enquiry’.request” Quoteas ‘Exceptionalthe circumstancestext request’.of your message.

Ideally, you should ask us for permission before you sub-contract the work. If this is not possible then you must do so within 5 working days after deployment.

How we make our decision

We review each application individually. We will consider your specific situation.

We will only give you permission if we agree that your circumstances are exceptional.

We will also consider:

• your track history of following ACS rules
• your efforts to avoid using a company we have not approved
• whether you could have prevented the situation by acting earlier
• any potential risk to public safety or the reputation of our approved contractor scheme
• the due diligence and quality checks you have done to confirm the sub-contractor meets the required ACS standard
• how you will align the sub-contracted service with ACS requirements (your ‘sub-contractor plan’)

We will try to reach a decision within 5 working days.

What we mean by ‘ACS requirements’

WeWhen willwe tellrefer to you inaligning writingthe whethersub-contracted weservice givewith youACS permission.requirements, Ifthese weare do,the specific points we willare explainreferring to:

• Criterion 1 – Strategy
  • Indicator 1.1.2 – key stakeholders are aware of the conditionsorganisation’s overall approach to business
  • Indicator 1.2.1 – critical success factors have been clearly identified and internal measures are in place to monitor progress towards achievement
• Criterion 2 – Service delivery
  • Indicator 2.2.1 – there is a current and effective plan to ensure continuity of ourservice permissiondelivery
  • Indicator 2.4.1 – use of sub-contractors is agreed with customers and subject to defined quality assurance procedures
  • Indicator 2.4.2 – effective customer and consumer performance indicators and service level agreements have been established
  • Indicator 2.6.1 – the dateorganisation itregularly expires.

    Ifreviews weperformance doagainst notservice givelevel youagreements permission,and/or wekey willcustomer explainperformance why.

    indicators
• Criterion 3 – Commercial relationship management
  • Indicator 3.1.1 – effective purchasing procedures are implemented
  • Indicator 3.5.1 – the organisation regularly reviews performance against responses from customer opinion gathering
• Criterion 4 – Financial management
  • Indicator 4.2.1 – clear and effective management of the payroll can be evidenced
  • Indicator 4.2.4 – there is sufficient insurance to cover contractual requirements

After we have reached our decision

IfWe will tell you in writing whether we give you permission,permission. youIf mustwe stilldo, makewe surewill yourexplain customerthe agreesconditions toof youour sub-contractingpermission toand athe companydate it expires.

If we havedo not approved.give you permission, we will explain why.

You can appeal our decision if we do not give you permission. Contact us through your business account to ask for an independent review.

What counts as exceptional circumstances?

Exceptional circumstances are when your only option is to use a contractor we have not approved. This is usually when you have an urgent need and no SIA-approved contractor is available.

Some examples are:

• you need a specialised service, like a trained dog-and-handler team, and you cannot find an SIA-approved contractor who offers it
• you needhave extraa short-term security staffdemand forthat ayour shortcompany periodcannot ofsatisfy time,on suchits own (such as duringa festival season or formajor aevent) big event, and you cannot find enough SIA-approved contractors to cover it
• you need security services urgently for a situation where people’s health and safety is at risk

Sub-contracting versus use of labour

‘Sub-contracting’ is different from ‘use of labour’. ‘Use of labour’ refers to hiring temporary workers. You do not need our permission to do this. Know the difference between sub-contracting and use of labour.