The Security Event 2026 Agenda

This panel explores how access control is evolving from a door-centric system into an identity-driven layer that supports safety, efficiency, and better user experiences. Panelists will discuss how aligning security, IT, and facilities creates more resilient and adaptable workplaces across the UK.

• The phrase "access control" still conjures a door and a card reader for most people outside (and frankly inside too) this industry. But the systems you are building today are identity infrastructure. At what point does the language we use to describe ourselves start holding us back?
• Security, IT, and facilities have historically operated in separate lanes with separate budgets and separate agendas. Where does that actually break down in practice, and who in the organisation is best positioned to force the alignment?
• If a UK workplace CISO and a Head of Facilities are both in the room, what is the one thing you would want them to leave agreeing on?

With increasing regulatory expectations, evolving threat landscapes and growing demand for professional standards, the UK security sector must rethink how it attracts, develops and retains talent. This session explores how funded security industry apprenticeships and structured development programmes are transforming workforce capability across the sector.

Attendees will receive the latest updates on security apprenticeships, including funding changes and what they mean for employers, alongside insight into the new Level 4 Protective Security Adviser apprenticeship and how it supports progression into higher-level advisory and risk-based roles.

The session will also demonstrate the measurable impact apprenticeships have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy from improving retention and competence to strengthening organisational resilience and productivity.
 
Finally, the session will explore how the Security Profession Map can be used to align apprenticeship pathways with professional standards, helping organisations build clear career routes and raise the overall profile of the security profession.
 
This practical and strategic session is ideal for business leaders, HR professionals, contract managers and security practitioners seeking sustainable workforce solutions.

Witness a live demonstration of security fences, lock cylinder protection and security doorsets

This presentation will focus on the benefits of individuals undertaking CPD to support capacity and confidence, and companies/organisations proactively supporting CPD opportunities to support resilience and litigation.

In an increasingly complex and high-risk environment, organisations must protect their people and premises while continuing to operate in the public eye. This session offers an inside look at how the BBC approaches corporate security across the UK. Drawing on real-world experience, it will explore risk management, threat assessment, crisis response and the balance between openness and safety. Attendees will gain practical insight into how large, high-profile organisations safeguard staff, assets and operation while maintaining public trust.

The immediate human impacts of a terrorist attack are clear, but the financial and operational disruption to both large and small businesses in the aftermath is often less understood. In this session, Pool Re – the UK’s largest terrorism (Re)Insurer and an Arm’s Length Body of Government – will demonstrate how these secondary impacts can be quantified to support informed, holistic risk decision making.

Attendees will gain insight into:

• Why a credible and current view of the terrorism threat is essential.
• The full spectrum of potential costs, from physical damage to business interruption, in the aftermath of an attack.
• How loss estimates can drive improvement to organisational resilience and inform investment prioritisation of finite resources for risk mitigation.
• The role of robust analysis in the assurance of risk financing and risk management decision making.

A practical conversation about how organisations can modernise access control without unnecessary disruption. This session focuses on smart upgrade paths, hybrid environments, and how UK end users and integrators are extending the life and value of existing infrastructure while preparing for the future. • ""Rip and replace"" is not a strategy most UK organisations will accept. What does a credible modernisation conversation actually look like when the customer's first instinct is to protect what they already have? • There is a difference between extending the life of a system and genuinely preparing for the future. How do you know when you have crossed from one into the other? • Hybrid environments are the reality for most of the market right now. What is the biggest hidden cost of hybrid that nobody talks about in the sales conversation?

From insecure APIs to malicious updates, mobile apps face constant attack. This session introduces the latest extension of SBD's Secure Connected Device (SCD) accreditation scheme, bringing accredited security standards to mobile applications. It will explore mobile app threats and show how SCD accreditation helps organisations demonstrate robust security, protect users, and raise the bar for trust in the app ecosystem.

Witness a live demonstration of security fences, secure walling and glazed doorsets

Reflections on playing our part – when Eurovision came to Liverpool, it enveloped the whole city and was an exciting time for us all. At National Museums Liverpool we hosted key events associated with Eurovision and shared boundaries and the ‘space between’ with the main host venues. This presentation reflects on our collaboration, the part we played and reflections encompassing how we considered impending Martyn’s Law to understand and address risks.

What can security deal with any day of the year on a Higher Education campus, from safeguarding students and staff to managing protests, mental health incidents, crime prevention and major events, all within a complex and open environment that never truly switches off.

Witness a live demonstration of security fences, security doorsets and padlocks

This session examines how open standards, APIs, and interoperability improve outcomes for end users and integrators alike. Panelists will share real-world examples of systems working well together and discuss how openness can reduce risk, improve flexibility, and future-proof investments.

• Everyone says they support open standards until it costs them something. Where does the commitment to openness actually get tested in a real deployment?
• An end user sitting in this audience right now is evaluating vendors. What should they specifically ask for in a tender or procurement process to separate genuine interoperability from marketing language?
• Aliro is moving. OSDP is established. We have standards bodies doing real work. What is still missing before interoperability becomes the default expectation rather than the exception?

This session introduces Secured by Design and its product-based accreditation scheme - the Police Preferred Specification - explaining how it helps companies with security products demonstrate credibility, build customer trust, and meet recognised security standards. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the benefits of becoming a member, the requirements involved, and the practical steps to joining the scheme.

Brought to you by JCI

Because no guard should carry the weight of their struggles alone. This first-of-its-kind campaign confronts male suicide in the security industry, shining a light on the mental health challenges faced by frontline security officers and calling for collective responsibility to protect those who protect us every day.

 

Join Stuart Miller to see how businesses are harnessing AI to innovate their physical security operations. Over the last year, we’ve seen the physical security industry reach a critical turning point. Agentic AI has shifted the industry from a reactive tool, relied upon to verify and investigate an incident after it occurred, to a proactive strategy for increased safety and operational efficiency. Join Stuart as he talks through some of the technology available on the market and how modern businesses are using it. 

This session will outline how the police manage demand in responding to Intruder and Hold-Up Alarms, highlighting collaboration with the private security industry and inspectorate bodies. It will also explore the latest developments in alarm response, including the role of Electronic Call Handling Operations (ECHO).

Witness a live demonstration of secure walling, security doorsets and key safes

Labour supply chain fraud is one of the most significant and growing compliance risks facing the UK security industry. With increasing scrutiny from the Security Industry Authority (SIA) and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), security companies must understand the risks within their labour supply chains and the potential consequences of non-compliance.

This panel brings together senior representatives from the SIA, HMRC and NSI to share first-hand insights from their work across the sector, including common issues identified during assessments and investigations.

Hear how enforcement bodies tackle labour supply chain fraud, the impact of recent regulatory actions and how collaboration between the SIA, HMRC, and NSI is raising industry standards. Attendees will gain practical insight into compliance expectations, the risks facing security providers and the steps to take now as regulatory oversight continues to tighten.

This is a must-attend session for all guarding services organisations, including those in the SIA’s Approved Contractor Scheme.

A grounded look at how AI is being applied in access control today to support better, faster decision-making. This panel separates practical use cases from hype and focuses on how AI can augment human judgment while maintaining accountability and trust.

• There is a lot of noise right now about AI in security. Strip away the marketing. What is AI actually doing in deployed access control systems today that is producing measurable outcomes?
• The accountability question matters here, especially in the UK where ICO scrutiny is real. When an AI-assisted system flags something or takes an action, who owns that decision?
• Where do you draw the line? There are applications of AI in physical security that should make us uncomfortable. How do you think about that boundary inside your own product decisions?

At the core of NSI’s Code of Practice NCP 109 is an important tension:  access control systems must prevent unauthorised access but they must also allow safe escape in emergencies.  This seminar tackles that challenge head-on.

As electronic locking becomes the norm and access control systems grow ever more sophisticated, designers, installers and building operators shoulder greater responsibility. Securing access is only part of the equation; life safety and safe egress are equally critical and every decision must be defensible under scrutiny.

This session provides the NSI perspective on designing, installing, commissioning and maintaining access control systems in today’s real-life scenarios. Matthew and Dave will lead a candid discussion on the challenges, including:

·       Door function and day-to-day operational pressures

·       Retrofitting and managing existing doors

·       Balancing security with safe escape

·       Where Standards, responsibilities and design assumptions intersect

·       The importance of informed judgement and clear, defensible documentation

Who should attend?
NSI-certified companies, specifiers and anyone responsible for access control compliance who want a clearer understanding of the considerations involved in supporting both security and safe escape.

This panel is not about policy, training standards, or organisational process.

It is about the minute none of us can predict.

The Empty Minute is the space between something going wrong and meaningful help arriving. You never know when it will happen, who it will happen to, or whether it will involve a stranger, a colleague, a friend, or someone you love.

For some people, it lasts seconds.
For others, it lasts a lifetime.

Drawing on lived experience, expert witness insight, and leadership from across the security and safety profession, Hosted by Marie Tyler, Executive Director of IPSA:

Ian Fox – Empty Minute initiative creator, Satia Rai, CEO of IPSA, and Eric Stuart QPM, former Chair of the United Kingdom Crowd Management Association, explore:

• Why the Empty Minute is never theoretical when you are inside it
• How ordinary people end up carrying extraordinary consequences
• What freezing, acting, or hesitating feels like in real human terms
• How outcomes ripple outward into guilt, pride, trauma, and identity
• Why no amount of distance, role, or seniority protects you from being “the one who was there”

Eric will reflect on the first Empty Minute story and what incident investigations repeatedly reveal: that the most consequential decisions are often made by people who never expected to be decision-makers at all.

This is a conversation about vulnerability, responsibility, and the uncomfortable truth that when something happens, the person who lives with it afterwards might be you.

This session looks at how sustainability is influencing access control design, deployment, and lifecycle management. The panel will explore how environmental responsibility, system longevity, and operational efficiency can align without compromising security outcomes.

• Sustainability in physical security is still largely a procurement box-ticking exercise. What would it look like if it was actually baked into product design and deployment decisions from day one?
• There is a real tension between the security industry's default posture — redundancy and resilience at all costs — and sustainability goals that push toward efficiency and reduction. How do you navigate that?
• Lifecycle management is where the sustainability conversation gets practical. What is the honest conversation the industry needs to have about how long these systems should last and what happens when they do not?

Demand for self-defence training is at an all-time high - but many programmes still lack structure, safeguarding, and credible qualifications. This session looks at what happens when self-defence is taught without standards, and why the industry must evolve. Combining lived experience, professional security insight, and community delivery, Charlotte will share what safe, effective, and realistic self-defence education should look like - and how raising standards protects the public, protects instructors, and builds trust in the wider security and safety sector. 

Session coming soon...

Witness a live demonstration of security fences and security windows

This presentation will focus on the benefits of individuals undertaking CPD to support capacity and confidence, and companies/organisations proactively supporting CPD opportunities to support resilience and litigation.

From insecure APIs to malicious updates, mobile apps face constant attack. This session introduces the latest extension of SBD's Secure Connected Device (SCD) accreditation scheme, bringing accredited security standards to mobile applications. It will explore mobile app threats and show how SCD accreditation helps organisations demonstrate robust security, protect users, and raise the bar for trust in the app ecosystem.

Witness a live demonstration of turnstiles and padlocks

Show how collaboration, connection and communication (via the network, WhatsApp groups and events) tangibly improve careers, culture and security outcomes – with clear actions for the audience.

Domestic abuse affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men in England and Wales, with an estimated annual cost to businesses of £17 billion in England alone. Employers play a crucial role in creating a safe and supportive workplace where employees can access help.

The Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) is a network of over 2,000 UK employers committed to taking effective action on domestic abuse. This session will provide a deeper understanding of the impact of domestic abuse, its relevance to the workplace, and how employers can create a supportive environment for those affected.

As society and organizations are becoming more and more dependent on technology for their operation and continuity, securing this technology will be at the very core of the security domain. Both physical and cyber security professionals should not only be concerned with protecting IT infrastructure and information but have to pay special attention to Operational Technology (OT). This category of automation infrastructure contains Industrial Control Systems (ICS), SCADA systems, Process Control Systems (PCS) and IoT. Securing this kind of infrastructure is lagging behind on IT security. What is the difference? What are the specific characteristics of OT and how can we  (physically) protect this? Learn all about one of the major risks for our near future.   

There is an evolving and rapidly increasing risk environment for security officers, which is undoubtedly having an impact on everyone here. Physical violence and reputational risks are unfortunately just the most common risks, with every individual carrying a specialist camera for recording incidents from a potentially biased perspective. However, now Security management and Officers face increasing bribery & corruption, fraud, immigration, licencing and data protection risks, just to add to the workload.

This session will examine some interesting examples of cases where these risks have led to enforcement (such as the Sheriff of Soho': A corrupt ex-Met Police officer jailed after taking bribes in London's West End; Victor Obi who pleaded guilty at Bexley Magistrates' Court for three offences contrary to the Fraud Act 2006; Daniel Carter used his faked position as a security supervisor to steal £1425 cash from the hospital; Student visa holders working more than permitted hours; and the common misnomer that “They have an SIA licence, so they must be legal to work.”).

Gaon will focus on practical advice to assist management and officers to manage their new and increasing burdens. The ambition will be to have an interactive session if possible and discuss what can be done to help Security manage their risks.

This session introduces Secured by Design and its product-based accreditation scheme - the Police Preferred Specification - explaining how it helps companies with security products demonstrate credibility, build customer trust, and meet recognised security standards. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the benefits of becoming a member, the requirements involved, and the practical steps to joining the scheme.

Record high metal prices have resulted in criminal gangs targeting infrastructure and sites under construction like never before. Losses are rising, repeat victimisation is common, and sites struggle to get insured in the aftermath of an incident.

Experts from OPAL, Gallagher and DeterTech will discuss intelligence trends, the impact on risk and insurance, and a new model that leverages prevention-led security to guarantee coverage for impacted sites.

This talk will focus on the journey as a young person working in the industry and some of the experiences that have shaped Bethany's path so far. She will share some of the challenges she's faced, the opportunities she's had, and the lessons learned along the way.

She will also speak about how other young people can progress in the industry, including the importance of building confidence, developing skills, and making the most of opportunities when they arise.

Finally, she’ll touch on the role the older generation can play in supporting young people entering the field, whether through mentorship, sharing knowledge, or simply creating spaces where young voices feel encouraged and valued.

Security companies operate under increasing pressure to mobilise staff quickly while maintaining high compliance standards and audit readiness.

In practice, workforce compliance is no longer just a back-office responsibility. It has become a core part of operational readiness, affecting how quickly organisations can deploy teams, meet client expectations, and manage risk.

This panel brings together industry leaders to discuss how the sector is evolving and what security companies need to get right over the next few years. The conversation will explore operational realities such as balancing speed with compliance, maintaining audit readiness, and improving visibility across training, vetting, and workforce deployment.

The session will provide practical perspectives for security company leaders, operations directors, and compliance professionals responsible for maintaining standards while ensuring their organisations remain ready to deliver.

This session will outline how the police manage demand in responding to Intruder and Hold-Up Alarms, highlighting collaboration with the private security industry and inspectorate bodies. It will also explore the latest developments in alarm response, including the role of Electronic Call Handling Operations (ECHO).