Newly published SIA figures show that right-to-work failures now make up 9 in 10 of all SIA licence revocations, well ahead of conduct, criminal record, or anything else on the list. According to the Telegraph’s reporting on the figures, thousands of guards have lost their licences in recent years over this issue.
We went to the underlying data to see exactly what it shows and what it means for SIA licence holders.
What The Data Actually Shows
Between 1 January 2022 and 2 August 2026, the SIA revoked 24,969 licences. Of those, 22,526 (just over 90%) were for “No Right to Work.” Everything else combined — violent or abusive behaviour, dishonesty, drug offences, weapons offences — adds up to the remaining 10%.
And it’s climbing fast, not levelling off:
| Year | Right-to-work revocations |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 734 |
| 2023 | 3,363 |
| 2024 | 6,445 |
| 2025 | 7,740 |
| 2026 (to 2 Aug) | 4,244 |
Seven months into 2026, the figure already sits above half of all of 2025. One useful thing to be clear on: this stat describes the makeup of revocations, not how likely any individual licence holder is to lose their badge. It also doesn’t say why revocations have risen so sharply; the SIA’s own data doesn’t break that down.
One likely factor is the ongoing switch from Biometric Residence Permits to digital eVisas, but the data itself doesn’t confirm that’s the main driver, and it doesn’t tell us how many of these cases involved someone whose status had simply lapsed versus someone who didn’t have the right to work when they applied. Worth reading the headline number with that caveat in mind.
Does This Affect You?
If you’re a UK or Irish citizen, or your settled status, visa or work rights are current, this data isn’t really about you. It reflects how closely status is being checked, not a new rule that puts more people at risk.
Where it’s worth paying attention: your SIA licence being valid has never meant your right to work is automatically valid too. They’re two separate checks, run through two separate systems.
If your circumstances mean the two could drift apart without you noticing, that’s the scenario worth checking for:
- You’re on a time-limited visa, where your right to work has its own expiry date, separate from your SIA licence’s expiry.
- You’ve moved from a physical Biometric Residence Permit to an eVisa and haven’t double-checked your UKVI account is up to date.
- You haven’t looked at your own status in a while — the SIA doesn’t automatically re-check this between renewals, so a lapse can sit unnoticed until someone runs a check.
Recommended Reading: Suspending and Revoking an SIA Licence
What To Actually Do
- Log into your UKVI account and confirm your status is current — especially if you’re not sure your BRP-to-eVisa move is fully done.
- Generate a share code through the Home Office’s online service and check it shows your correct status. This is what gets checked now, not your physical documents.
- Don’t wait for your licence renewal. Your badge can still say valid while your right to work has quietly lapsed underneath it — nothing links the two, and nothing flags the gap until someone checks.
- If something looks wrong, sort it as soon as you can. Not every case is a quick fix, but a status that’s simply out of date is usually resolvable faster than people expect.
If you’re mid-renewal and want to make sure your paperwork lines up, our renewal checklist and guide to SIA licence documents you’ll need cover exactly that.
The Bottom Line
Nine in ten revocations coming down to one checkable, fixable thing is, in a way, good news: this isn’t about conduct, competence, or anything you can’t control. It’s an admin gap, and admin gaps close fast once you know to look for them. The people this data should worry are the ones who assume a valid SIA licence tells the whole story; it doesn’t, and now you know why.
Is your right to work sorted? Book a refresher course to keep your licence valid. Once you pass the course, you can renew your SIA licence before it expires to get on with the part of the job that actually matters.
