Private security in numbers: UK, Spain and Italy

UK: licences are counted, businesses are not

The UK regulates people. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) licenses individuals and publishes the numbers every month. The data set refreshed on 2 November 2026 shows 505,452 active licences held by 444,761 people. The gap exists because one person can hold more than one licence.

By sector, the active licences are:

• Door supervision: 354,752
• Public space surveillance (CCTV): 67,906
• Security guarding: 57,198
• Close protection: 11,788
• Non-frontline: 8,302
• Cash and valuables in transit: 4,548
• Key holding: 941

Of the 444,761 licence holders, 49,768 are women.

A licence is not a job. The SIA’s strategic plan for 2026 to 2029 says people join for short-term and seasonal roles and to top up their main income, and that renewal rates sit at around 50%. So the licence count tells you how many people are cleared to work, not how many are working.

On businesses the regulator is frank. It says there is limited reliable data on how many firms supply security staff or hold security contracts, because nothing in the licensing regime obliges them to identify themselves. It quotes an HMRC estimate that there may be 13,000 security businesses. The plan gives no date for that estimate.

The only firm count is the Approved Contractor Scheme, which is voluntary. It had 717 companies in November 2026, of which 668 held approval for security guarding. A contractor can be approved in more than one sector.

For turnover, the SIA quotes the research firm IBISWorld: £8.9 billion in total. It adds that the 85 approved contractors in the trade magazine Infologue’s Top 100 for 2025 account for 65.3% of it. The plan does not say which year the £8.9 billion refers to or what it includes. We opened the BSIA’s main pages and found no market figures there.

The table to take into a presentation

Country	Indicator	Value	Year	Source
UK	Active licences	505,452	November 2026	SIA, regulator
UK	Licence holders	444,761	November 2026	SIA, regulator
UK	Approved contractors (voluntary scheme)	717	November 2026	SIA, regulator
UK	Security businesses, estimate	may be 13,000	not stated	HMRC, quoted by the SIA
UK	Total turnover	£8.9 billion	not stated	IBISWorld, quoted by the SIA
Spain	Active security companies	1,524	2025	APROSER, trade body
Spain	Working security guards	94,400	2025	APROSER, trade body
Spain	Sector turnover	€5,657 million	2025	APROSER, trade body
Spain	Enterprises, code 80	3,468	2024	Eurostat
Spain	Persons employed, code 80	170,373	2024	Eurostat
Spain	Net turnover, code 80	€8,308 million	2024	Eurostat
Italy	Enterprises, code 80	2,273	2024	Eurostat
Italy	Persons employed, code 80	105,729	2024	Eurostat
Italy	Net turnover, code 80	€5,335 million	2024	Eurostat
Italy	Turnover, security technology and building automation	€4 billion	not stated	ANIE Sicurezza, trade body

Code 80 is the European activity class that Eurostat labels “Security and investigation activities”. The UK is not in the Eurostat table we used. Eurostat figures in millions of euros are rounded to the nearest million by us.

Spain: two sources that do not match

Spain has the fullest trade-body data of the three. APROSER, the association of private security service companies, says it groups more than 70% of the sector. Its page does not say where the counts come from. Its figures for 2025:

• 1,524 active companies, down from 1,548. The Interior Ministry authorised 1,311 of them, the Catalan government 196 and the Basque government 17.
• 84.4% of companies have fewer than 50 workers.
• 94,400 working security guards, up from 91,275. 94% are on permanent contracts and the average age is 49.
• Turnover of €5,657 million, up 6.1%. Guarding brought in €3,337 million, systems and alarms €1,969 million and cash in transit €351 million.
• 77% of business comes from private clients and 23% from the public sector.

Eurostat gives a larger picture for 2024: 3,468 enterprises, 170,373 persons employed and €8,308 million under code 80. Within that, private security activities (80.1) cover 1,798 enterprises and 148,440 people, and security systems service activities (80.2) cover 560 enterprises, 20,722 people and €2,130 million.

The two sources measure different things. APROSER counts companies authorised to provide private security. Eurostat counts enterprises by economic activity. The years differ too. Neither source explains the gap and we have not tried to estimate it.

Italy: official statistics, and no public count of sworn guards

For Italy the only statistical series we read is Eurostat’s. In 2024, code 80 covers 2,273 enterprises, 105,729 persons employed and €5,335 million in net turnover.

• Private security activities (80.1): 1,138 enterprises, 89,846 people, €4,643 million.
• Security systems service activities (80.2): 197 enterprises, 10,027 people, €426 million.
• Investigation activities (80.3): 938 enterprises, 5,856 people, €266 million.

Since 2021, employment has risen from 88,598 to 105,729 and turnover from €4,422 million to €5,335 million, while the number of enterprises has fallen from 2,389 to 2,273.

We found no official published count of sworn guards (guardie giurate) or licensed guarding firms. The Italian Interior Ministry’s 2026 annual dossier does not cover the sector.

Two trade bodies publish their own figures, without a year. ASSIV, which represents guarding and security service firms, says it has about 90 member companies employing over 24,000 people and accounting for over 60% of the sector’s aggregate turnover. ANIE Sicurezza, which represents firms in fire detection, intruder alarms, video surveillance, access control and building automation, puts that segment’s turnover at €4 billion. That is technology, a different business from guarding, and should not be added to code 80.

What cannot be compared

• Licences and headcount. UK licences are permissions held by people. Spanish and Italian figures count workers or staff.
• Guards and persons employed. APROSER’s 94,400 is one occupation. Eurostat’s persons employed are everyone working for the firms.
• Companies. Authorised companies in Spain (APROSER), enterprises by activity in Spain and Italy (Eurostat), an estimate in the UK.
• Turnover. Pounds and euros, different years, official statistics on one side and trade bodies or a private research firm on the other. We have not converted currencies.

How to use these numbers

• For the UK, say “active SIA licences”, give the month, and never call them employees.
• Quote the £8.9 billion as an IBISWorld figure reported by the SIA, and leave it in pounds.
• To compare Spain and Italy, use Eurostat only: same code, same year.
• Put the year and the producer next to every figure. Label trade-body data as trade-body data.
• Do not add guarding to technology, or two sources for the same country.
• Tell your audience that Italy has no published official count of sworn guards, instead of repeating a number with no origin.
• Check again before you present. The SIA updates monthly; Eurostat and APROSER data are annual.

If the UK market is your focus, see our guide to Martyn’s Law, for which the SIA is the regulator.