TacDesk Blog
Insights & guides for UK security companies
Compliance, operations, and growth — written by people who actually work the shifts.
Showing 24 of 207 articles
You Can Tell a Cowboy Outfit the Moment Something Actually Happens
Anyone can look professional on a quiet night. What separates a properly run security operation from a cowboy outfit only shows once something actually goes wrong.
UK Security Company Compliance: The Complete Checklist
SIA licensing, ACS, BS 7858 vetting, right to work, working time, Martyn's Law and GDPR: the checklist every UK security company needs to keep on top of, with the current rules and where to go for the detail.
SIA Licence Types Explained: Front Line, Non-Front Line and the Sectors
Front line versus non-front line SIA licences, the eight licensable sectors, licence length and current fees, verified against gov.uk.
Security Site Risk Assessments: A Practical Guide for Guarding Firms
How to write a site risk assessment that holds up at audit, how it connects to your assignment instructions, and where TacDesk holds the site information behind both.
How to Start a Security Company in the UK: A Practical Guide
What actually has to happen before you can trade as a UK manned guarding company: company formation, SIA licensing for staff and directors, insurance, vetting, your first contracts and the tooling to run it.
BS 7499 Explained: The Static Guarding Standard for UK Security Companies
What BS 7499 actually covers, how it sits alongside BS 7858 vetting, BS 7984 keyholding and the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme, and where to check the current edition.
Nobody Remembers a Description Passed Over the Radio
Passing an accurate description over a town-link radio is harder than it sounds. Here is why it goes wrong, and what good practice looks like.
What a Client Actually Asks For When They Ask You to Prove the Patrol Happened
The evidence question turns up in bids, client reviews and disputes. Here is what a paper patrol sheet can prove, what it can't, and what NFC checkpoint scanning changes.
GuardTek Alternative for UK Security Companies (2026)
Looking for a GuardTek alternative? TacDesk vs GuardTek compared on features, UK compliance and published pricing, with every GuardTek claim sourced and dated.
Nobody Writes a Good Report at the End of a 12-Hour Shift
The incident happened at half past nine. The report gets written at six in the morning, from memory, by someone who wants to go home. That gap is where the detail dies, and a thin report costs you more than a missing one.
The SIA Licenses Your Guards. It's Now Looking at Licensing Your Business Too.
A Home Office consultation on licensing security contractor businesses closed in March. No decision's been announced, but the SIA's own delivery planning hasn't stopped. Here's what's actually being proposed, and what to have ready either way.
Martyn's Law Won't Regulate You. It's About to Change What Your Clients Ask For.
Duties under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 are already live and full commencement lands in spring 2027. The legal duty sits with the venue, not the contractor. But the venue is about to start asking you for proof.
Subcontracting Security Work: How to Protect Your Margins, Compliance and Reputation
Subcontracting can help you win bigger contracts and cover gaps — or it can quietly wreck your margins and your compliance. Here is how to subcontract security work without losing control.
Security Guard Uniform and PPE Standards: What UK Law Requires and What Clients Expect
A practical guide to uniform, PPE, and appearance standards for UK security guards — the legal minimums and the details that win client confidence.
Safeguarding and Whistleblowing: What Security Guards in Schools and Healthcare Need to Know
Guards working schools, hospitals, and care settings carry safeguarding responsibilities beyond standard site security — here's what UK security companies need in place.
Cyber Security Basics for Security Companies: Protecting Guard and Client Data
Security companies handle sensitive guard, client, and site data every day — here's what basic cyber hygiene looks like for a manned guarding business.
Assignment Instructions Guards Actually Follow: A Practical Guide
Most assignment instructions are too long, out of date, and stuck in a folder nobody reads. Here is how to write site instructions your guards will actually use — and how to keep them current.
Martyn's Law: What UK Security Companies Need to Know About the Protect Duty
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act — Martyn's Law — creates a new duty for venues to prepare for terror attacks. Here is what it means for UK security companies and how to turn it into an opportunity.
Coming Soon: TacDesk Circuit — the borough-wide safety layer
Every participating venue's incidents, banned list, live capacity and body-cam footage joined on one real-time picture — with council CCTV controllers and police logging in alongside the venues. Day and night. We're recruiting our first pilot districts now.
Two New Betas: Auto Dispatch and In-Car Alerts
Auto Dispatcher attaches the nearest guards to an incident the moment it's created. In-car alerts put the incident log on the CarPlay or Android Auto screen. Both open to beta testers now.
TacBot: The AI Copilot for Security Paperwork
TacBot is TacDesk's in-app AI assistant — built to chew through the admin nobody wants to do, from SIA and DVLA checks to client reports and incident write-ups.
Introducing TacFree: Free Guard Management for Small Operators
TacDesk now has a free tier. Up to 5 guards, no card, self-serve signup in minutes — GPS clock-in, unlimited incident reports, rota scheduling and SIA licence tracking included.
Client Portal Is Now Available On Every Paid Plan
TacDesk's Client Portal — the live window your customers get into their own site coverage, reports and evidence — is now included on every paid plan, from TacStarter.
100% Uptime: The Reliability Security Operations Depend On
TacDesk recently recorded a period of 100% uptime. Here's why reliability matters for security operations — and how we hold ourselves to it, in public.