West Midlands Security Intelligence Briefing

Welcome to the first briefing. One email a month, five minutes to read, no sales content. Public record, open data, and what we're seeing on the ground across the West Midlands. If something here affects a site you manage, act on it — whether that's with us or whoever you trust.

1 · Provider Stability: Check Who's Guarding Your Sites

The guarding sector is consolidating hard. Compliant charge rates have risen beyond what many clients will pay, and industry forecasts for 2026 predict stagnating demand for static officer services for the first time in decades — which squeezes the firms that priced low to win work. The SIA's own ACS figures show the churn: in a single year the scheme saw 106 new applications with only 33 approved, alongside withdrawals and sanctions for firms that fell below standards.

What to do: if a security provider covers any site you're responsible for, run three checks this month. Pull their last filed accounts at Companies House and look for distress — overdue filings, shrinking net assets, mounting creditors. Spot-check officers' licences on the SIA's public register (individual licensing is the legal requirement; the Approved Contractor Scheme is voluntary). And ask when they last gave you timestamped evidence of a visit — a provider that can't show its work is a provider you can't audit. A failure gives you days, not weeks, to re-cover a site, and your insurance position during a gap is worse than most people assume.

(When a regional failure appears in The Gazette, this item names it, with dates, from the public record.)

2 · Vacant and Paused Sites: Construction Insolvencies Are Creating Them

Construction administrations are running at roughly 10% of all UK administrations, and the Midlands is taking its share — Caldwell Construction (Stoke-on-Trent, 400+ staff and subcontractors, sites across the Midlands) entered administration in January after rescue talks failed. Every collapsed contractor leaves paused sites and part-built plots behind.

Why it matters to you: a paused site is a vacant site. Plant theft, metal stripping, fly-tipping and unauthorised occupation move in within weeks, and most insurance policies on unoccupied premises require regular evidenced inspections as a condition of cover. If a development near your asset has stalled, assume the risk profile of the whole area just changed.

3 · On the Ground: Metal Theft and Fly-Tipping Both Climbing

Two patterns from our own operations across the West Midlands this period. First, metal theft is increasing — compounds and unoccupied units on industrial estates remain the primary targets, and unguarded sites are being hit repeatedly once identified as soft. Second, fly-tipping is up at both ends of the scale: small household-level dumping and organised, vehicle-borne commercial tipping on industrial land and public open ground. Both follow the same rule — sites with no evidenced security activity get found, and then get revisited. If you manage land or units that sit empty for any part of the week, assume you're already on someone's list.

4 · Martyn's Law: The Clock Is Real but Not Urgent — Use the Time

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 is on the books. Enforcement is not expected to begin before April 2027, but the duties are already defined: standard tier for qualifying premises (200+ capacity) centres on preparedness and procedures; enhanced tier (800+) adds documented risk assessment and mitigation. If you manage premises that will qualify, the cheap move is to start the paperwork in 2026 while it's voluntary — the ProtectUK risk management process is the methodological backbone and it's free to follow now.

5 · Rate Benchmark: What Compliant Guarding Actually Costs in 2026

A figure for your next contract review: a directly employed SIA officer on £15.00/hour base costs the provider roughly £19.75/hour after holiday accrual, employer NI and pension — before a vehicle, insurance, equipment or any management. Add those and the true delivered cost sits around £23–24/hour. Any quote materially below £26/hour is losing money, cutting corners, or not paying legally. The cheapest quote on the table is usually the next provider failure on your portfolio — see item 1.

Seen something on your patch? Suspicious vehicles, attempted break-ins, fly-tipping activity — email [email protected]. Patterns from readers feed future briefings (always anonymised).