Online practice can help you learn and test the knowledge a qualification assesses, but it cannot get you the qualification. That comes from training with an approved training provider, after which your awarding organisation tells the SIA you have passed.[1][2]
The SIA guidance quoted here applies across the UK.
What only training can give you
A front line licence depends on a licence-linked qualification, and the SIA’s guidance says the training for it must come from a provider approved by an awarding organisation.[3][1] The SIA does not run training itself.[4]
For the door supervisor and security guard qualifications, you also need a first aid qualification before the training starts, valid for at least another 12 months.[5]
Your result reaches the SIA from the awarding organisation. Until that notification arrives, a licence application cannot be submitted.[2]
None of that can happen on this site, or on any site that sells practice questions. A mock test result is not a qualification, and neither the SIA nor any awarding organisation ever sees it.
Skills you have to show, not describe
Several parts of the door supervisor qualification ask you to demonstrate a skill rather than state a fact. For searching, the specification lists being able to use a handheld metal detector, search a bag, search a coat or outer garment, carry out a pat-down search, and find a prohibited item.[6]
- Working with colleagues to de-escalate conflict, including positioning and switching to or from a colleague.[7]
- Using communication devices: accurate, brief and clear, with call signs and the NATO phonetic alphabet.[8]
- Completing an evidential statement, which is done as part of the training and internally assessed with a sign-off sheet sent to Pearson.[9]
A multiple-choice question can check that you know the steps of a pat-down search. It cannot check that you can carry one out.
Physical intervention
The security officer specification frames physical intervention around your own limits and your legal responsibility for what you do and fail to do, within the current legal framework.[10] It also lists stress and emotional trauma among the harms an intervention can cause, alongside physical injury.[11]
Techniques for holding, escorting or restraining a person are taught and assessed in person. This site does not teach them and nothing on it replaces that training.
What practice on this site can do
- Give you original questions written from the published specifications and the law they cite. None is copied from an awarding organisation’s exam.
- Show, under every answer, the passage it rests on, who published it and the date we last checked it.
- Break a mock result down by unit and learning outcome, so you can see which parts of the specification need more work.
- Set a timed paper only to a format read from an awarding organisation’s specification, and give a pass or fail only where that specification states a pass mark.
- Leave out practical units. There is no physical intervention paper here.
Today that means the Door Supervisor and Security Guard qualifications. There is no CCTV Operator or refresher paper yet. CCTV questions are being written from Pearson’s specification, and none goes live until it has been checked against its sources.
Try the Door Supervisor mock test, practise one topic at a time in topic practice, or read the SIA documents the questions are written from.
Where our sources stop
Every question and guide here is grounded in documents we have archived. Some documents we could not use, and some topics have gaps as a result:
- Pearson’s CCTV operator specification dates from 2021. A few of its statements about the law have dated or are loosely put, so those points are left out of our CCTV questions rather than taught.
- The SIA’s conflict management specification describes how the unit must be taught rather than what a learner must know, so it cannot ground questions. No source we hold names a de-escalation model.
- Where a topic has no source we can rely on, it is left out and the relevant guide says so, rather than filled in from memory.
The new licence or renewal guide sets out which qualification you need before any of this is useful.
Questions people ask
Can passing mock tests get me an SIA licence?
No. You need a licence-linked qualification from training with an approved provider, and the awarding organisation has to notify the SIA before you can apply.[1][2]
Is the SIA involved with training providers’ fees?
The SIA says it does not give training itself and gets no money from training providers’ course fees.[4]
What this guide does not cover
- The format of exams set by awarding organisations other than Pearson, which we have not verified.
- How practical assessments are carried out and marked by a training provider.
- Choosing a training provider. The SIA runs its own search for approved providers.
Where to go next
Sources
Each passage below is quoted from the copy of the document we checked on the date shown. Follow the link to read it in full on the publisher’s site.
You must get your training from an approved training provider. These are providers that have been approved by awarding organisations that offer SIA-licence-linked qualifications.
1. Security Industry AuthorityCheck what training you need to get an SIA licence (opens in a new tab)Search for a training providerUK wide · Checked 12 Sept 2026Once you have successfully got the qualification you need for a front line licence, the awarding organisation will tell us. We must get this notification before you can submit your licence application.
2. Security Industry AuthorityCheck what training you need to get an SIA licence (opens in a new tab)IntroductionUK wide · Checked 12 Sept 2026This is so we can be sure you have the skills and knowledge you need to hold a licence and do your job safely.
3. Security Industry AuthorityCheck what training you need to get an SIA licence (opens in a new tab)IntroductionUK wide · Checked 12 Sept 2026We do not give training ourselves. We do not get any money from training providers’ course fees.
4. Security Industry AuthorityCheck what training you need to get an SIA licence (opens in a new tab)Search for a training providerUK wide · Checked 12 Sept 2026You must have a first aid qualification before you can take the training required for a full qualification or the refresher qualification. Your first aid qualification must be valid for at least another 12 months.
5. Security Industry AuthorityCheck what training you need to get an SIA licence (opens in a new tab)Qualification for a door supervisor licenceUK wide · Checked 12 Sept 2026Be able to use a handheld metal detector; Be able to search a bag; Be able to search a coat and/or outer garment (hoodies/hats/scarf/gloves); Be able to conduct a pat-down search of an individual; Observe an individual conducting a self-search; Be able to locate a prohibited item/s during the search
6. Pearson Education LimitedBTEC Level 2 Award for Door Supervisors in the Private Security Industry: Specification (opens in a new tab)Unit 2, criterion 2.7, page 75UK wide · Checked 5 Sept 2026Demonstrate working with colleagues to de-escalate conflict situations; Positioning; Switching to or from a colleague.
7. Pearson Education LimitedBTEC Level 2 Award for Door Supervisors in the Private Security Industry: Specification (opens in a new tab)Unit 3, criterion 4.6, page 109UK wide · Checked 5 Sept 2026Demonstrate effective use of communication devices; Accurate, brief and clear; Use of call-signs, pro-words, local code words; Use of the NATO phonetic alphabet
8. Pearson Education LimitedBTEC Level 2 Award for Door Supervisors in the Private Security Industry: Specification (opens in a new tab)Unit 2, criterion 7.5, page 94UK wide · Checked 5 Sept 2026Statement to be completed as part of the training, and internally assessed with a sign-off sheet submitted to Pearson to say completed
9. Pearson Education LimitedBTEC Level 2 Award for Door Supervisors in the Private Security Industry: Specification (opens in a new tab)Unit 1, criterion 8.4, page 55UK wide · Checked 5 Sept 2026Work within own training, skillset and physical capabilities; Request assistance when appropriate; Legal responsibility for actions and omissions; Current legal framework and responsibilities.
10. Pearson Education LimitedBTEC Level 2 Award for Security Officers in the Private Security Industry: Specification (opens in a new tab)Unit 2, criterion 4.9, page 82UK wide · Checked 5 Sept 2026stress and emotional trauma.
11. Pearson Education LimitedBTEC Level 2 Award for Security Officers in the Private Security Industry: Specification (opens in a new tab)Unit 2, criterion 4.10, page 83UK wide · Checked 5 Sept 2026
SIA Mock Test UK is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the Security Industry Authority, GOV.UK or any awarding organisation. Practice questions are original and are not live exam questions. This service does not replace mandatory licence-linked training, practical assessment or first-aid requirements. Always confirm current requirements with GOV.UK, your approved training provider and your awarding organisation.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Read the licence.