Manned guarding is the largest part of the UK private security industry and the one with the least room for error: a post must be covered every hour of the contract by an officer holding a security guarding licence, the client pays for hours of presence, and the record of each shift is the company’s defence when something goes wrong. BOOK ON was built for this work. The roster is organised by client, site and day; book-on and book-off from the officer app are the attendance record; check calls, patrols and daily occurrence entries sit on the live monitor; and the same shift feeds the timesheet, the invoice and the compliance report.
What a manned guarding contract needs
Licensed officers on every post
A security guarding licence from the SIA for each officer, checked before assignment and tracked to expiry. BOOK ON holds the licence on the officer record, runs an SIA check from the employees list, and lists expiries with days remaining.
Continuous cover
Posts run 24 hours a day, often in 12-hour shifts on 4-on-4-off or continental patterns. The roster copies a week forward, counts unassigned and unconfirmed shifts, and finds cover by postcode.
Proof of presence
Clients pay for hours. Book-on and book-off times on every shift, planned against actual hours, and a movement trail for the officer are the proof.
Welfare
Most posts are lone posts. The Alone filter, check calls and the Monitor Location map support the employer’s duty to lone workers.
A site record
BS 7499 expects occurrences on site to be recorded. Daily occurrence entries, patrol events and typed incidents replace the paper book.
Billing without dispute
The sales invoice is fetched from the same approved shifts, so a disputed line is answered from the attendance record.
A static site, shift by shift
- The site is set up under its client with site ID, postcode and contact, and its posts are added to the roster for the week.
- Officers are assigned by licence type and confirmed; confirmed shifts appear in their app.
- The officer books on at the site; the live monitor shows the check-in.
- Patrols, check calls and daily occurrence entries are recorded from the app during the shift and filtered on the monitor.
- Anything serious is raised as a typed event and reviewed on the manager dashboard.
- The officer books off; actual hours sit beside planned hours.
- Approved shifts go to the timesheet, payroll and the client’s invoice; roster and operational reports go to the client.
Built around UK guarding compliance
Security guarding is a licensable activity under the Private Security Industry Act 2001, so every officer’s licence category, number and expiry is held on their record and tracked in the SIA renewal queue. Screening to BS 7858 is tracked per officer with pending lists on the HR dashboard. BS 7499, the code of practice for static guarding services, expects assignment instructions, records of occurrences, welfare checks and supervision, all of which are produced from BOOK ON’s client file reports, daily occurrence entries, check calls and site visit reports. Working time is watched through the seven-day consecutive-work alert, and the Compliance and ACS Evidence reports bring the evidence together for an Approved Contractor Scheme assessment.
Manned guarding on BOOK ON at a glance
| Contract requirement | BOOK ON screen or report |
|---|---|
| 24-hour rota per site | Client roster, Copy Roster, Excel import, Site Roster report |
| Licence check before assignment | Employees list SIA Check, SIA Licence Expiry tables, renewal queue |
| Attendance evidence | Book on and book off, live monitor, Site Report with Total Staff Hours |
| Welfare checks | Alone filter, Calls filter, Check Calls Log / Lone Worker report |
| Patrols | Patrol events, Patrols filter, Zig Zag Report |
| Occurrence book | Daily occurrence entries, Shift Logs, Events report |
| Assignment instructions and risk assessment | Client file reports |
| Invoice and pay | Sales invoice from timesheets, Generate Payroll, Master Payroll and Invoice report |
| Monthly review | Monthly Site Visit, Service Review Meeting, CAPA reports |
Manned guarding questions
Does BOOK ON handle 4-on-4-off and 12-hour night shifts?
Yes. Build one cycle on the roster and copy it forward; Change Time corrects single days. Night rates are set per shift with Change Rate.
Can I stop an officer with an expired licence being rostered?
Licence expiry is on the officer record, the employees list has an SIA Check action, the HR dashboard shows days remaining and the live monitor has an SIA filter, so an expired licence is visible before and during a shift.
How do clients get proof of attendance?
Roster, shift status and site reports are produced from the book-on record for any client, site and period, and sent with the invoice.
Can subcontracted officers cover posts?
Yes. Sub officers are rostered with a subcontractor filter, their licences appear in separate expiry tables, and their hours go to the subcontractor timesheet.
Does it cover mobile patrols on the same contract?
Yes. Patrol visits are recorded as patrol events against each site, and keyholding and alarm response run through the alarm module.
Is it suitable for a company with 20 officers?
Yes. Pricing is per officer, and the roster, app and reports are the same at 20 officers as at 500.
Related pages
Run one of your static sites on the demo
Bring a site’s rota and we will build its week, book an officer on and produce the invoice.