FAQs

Receiving the Secured Environments accreditation can bring your organisation a multitude of benefits.

• Reducing the risk of violence to staff
• Reducing the risk of crime on the premises
• Making people feel safer
• More effective use of current security measures
• Showing commitment to staff and clientele (such as customers, pupils or parents) that the organisation takes crime seriously.

You will be able to used the police approved ‘Secured Environments’ logo, you will receive a certificate signed by the police, and you can buy a plaque to display at your premises. These are visible signs that you are taking security seriously and that you have met the requirements of police accreditation.

We will also display your logo on the website and publicise articles in order to highlight your success.

The costs of accreditation depend on the size and structure of your organisation, and the costs are divided into two phases, an initial registration fee and an audit fee. It costs from £500 (plus VAT) to register for Secured Environment accreditation; once you have registered you can access the secure area of the Secured Environments website. This has been designed to provide you with a range of information needed to achieve accreditation. It will also provide you with access to personal support for your organisation which will be available electronically and over the phone.

The cost of the audit will vary with type, size and structure of the organisation. The smaller and simpler the structure (e.g. fewer sites), the less it will cost. Of course when you contact us we will work out the cost of accreditation. That way you can best decide whether the scheme offers good value, we believe it will.

The Secured Environments accreditation was developed to address a current gap in the accreditation services provided by the police. Up until now the focus has been on accrediting buildings as being secure if they take into account police advice on how they are designed. The next natural step is to accredit organisations if they manage their security appropriately - that is they are organised to ensure security issues are given appropriate consideration and priority. The accreditation was developed to help organisations improve their responses to security risks.

It does not guarantee that you will never be a victim of crime, but it does mean that you will have identified risks, checked that the responses are appropriate, that these are monitored and that staff attention is focussed on the issues.

Simply call a member of our team to register and receive further details including your secure password to the rest of the site or ‘click here’.

The accreditation has been designed so that it is very simple to follow and can be implemented without any specialist knowledge. The registration fee includes telephone and email support from one of our dedicated specialists in crime prevention to help you through the process. At a small additional cost we can visit your premises and offer tailored expertise and advice.

The length of time it takes to achieve the accreditation is up to you. It depends how close your existing working practices match the principles and how quickly you want to make changes. You may meet them immediately or it could take just a few weeks, or alternatively a number of months. However, you must organise the audit within a year of being registered otherwise you will have to re-register.

Of course any organisation can apply. If you have a number of sites but they are all managed under the same system only one certificate would be required. Alternatively if each site has its own ‘standalone’ management policy and regime then each site would require certification.

Organisations cannot fail on the day of the audit. You will receive a feedback report detailing where the organisation did not meet the required criteria which will help you to understand where you did not meet all the requirements. You will have three months in which to address the gaps, otherwise you will have to pay to re-register. You will need to demonstrate what you have done to address the gaps; the costs to re-assess the organisation will depend on the areas of failure. You will be able to access support from the dedicated advisors to address the gaps.

The feedback report will tell you how you achieved against each of the criteria so that you will know where and why you did not meet the standard.

You can be assessed whenever you feel ready. You can contact the dedicated staff team by email or alternatively on the helpline to get further advice on this if you choose.

Contact the dedicated staff team or on the helpline 01892 538690 to arrange a date for your assessment.

The standard has been designed to avoid unnecessary paperwork. However, there are some situations where paperwork is a necessity, for example to show that there is a security plan in place.

The accreditation lasts for 3 years at which point you will need to be re-accredited. We will be in touch with you to remind you about this.

The accreditation has been set to expire after a 3 year period because of the changes that can occur to an organisation during that time and ensuring that requirements are kept in line with the accreditation.

Secured Environments is one of a number of Secured by Design products. Secured by Design is a crime prevention initiative operated by the Police Service of the United Kingdom, which aims to utilise design principles and products in the built environment that reduce the risk of crime by combining minimum standards of physical security and proven principles of natural surveillance and defensible space.

Secured by Design focuses on crime prevention of homes, commercial and other premises by designing out crime from the start and target hardening using appropriate products. This combination of principles and products have been proven to achieve a reduction in crime of up to 75%. The membership scheme currently includes more than 500 companies, whose products have been awarded 'Police Preferred Specification' status across a broad range of categories, including doors, windows, bicycle security, perimeter fencing, mobile phones, roofing products, secondary glazing and many more.