Key-holding. How it works??

L

Lietuvis

Longterm Registered User
Hi,everyone,
I want to get some info on key-holding and alarm response services.
Does anyone here provides/uses this service?
I would like to know what is approximate price and conditions of this service.

I see lot of company's providing this service,but never saw response from aether of them.. No patrol arriving or anything?

Most company's don't even have alarm control room,or whatever you call it..

Any information , forms , price lists, procedures, policies would be appreciated..
Anything that could assist me and give clear image of this service :)
 
There seems to be a lot of tin pot firms out there, even with the SIA. I work for a large company as a Patrol & Response officer. In my personal opinion, you need to go with a large company. Our prices vary from £300 - £500 per year for keyholding with no call out charge to just call out charges of between £30 - £50 per hour.
 
Lietuvis said:
Hi,everyone,
I want to get some info on key-holding and alarm response services.
Does anyone here provides/uses this service?
I would like to know what is approximate price and conditions of this service.

I see lot of company's providing this service,but never saw response from aether of them.. No patrol arriving or anything?

Most company's don't even have alarm control room,or whatever you call it..

Any information , forms , price lists, procedures, policies would be appreciated..
Anything that could assist me and give clear image of this service :)
Click to expand...

Key Holding Company Costing​

ANNUAL FEE Price
Discounted
Annual Subscription
£400.00
£355 offer for the first year
Registration (one-off fee)
Under BS 7984: 2001 (for Key holding and Response services Code of practice) we must undertake an initial site inspection and Health & Safety risk assessment.
£50.00



SERVICE CHARGES
Security
First hour
Additional 30 minutes
Alarm Response



One-off Access
Premises Check/Lock-up
£45.00
£21.50
First half an hour
Additional 30 minutes
£35.00
£35.00


CONTRACTOR CHARGES
Contractor Charges
First hour
Additional 30 minutes
Specialist
Pre-booked
Same day & Out of Hours

Standard
Pre-booked
Same day & Out of Hours


£60.00
£95.00


£50.00
£75.00


£16.00
£32.00

£30.00
£50.00


£25.00
£40.00


£16.00
£32.00


Specialist: include electricians, plumbers and CORGI registered engineers​

Pre-booked: jobs booked before 17:00 the previous business day​

Sameday: jobs booked after 17:00 the previous business day or on the same day the job is carried out.​

Out-of-hours: weekdays between 18:00 and 09:00, weekends and public holidays. Christmas and New years Day will be charged at double the rate.​

Contractor Cancellations: any Member cancelling a contractor after 17:00 the business day prior to the job date will be charged a cancellation fee of £16.50 (excl. VAT). Any Member cancelling a contractor who is already en route to the property will be charged the first hour.​

All Prices: include VAT (unless otherwise stated) and may be subject to change (Nov 07)​

Complaints: all complaints must be received within 7 days of task being completed​

Administration Fee: £8.00 for various other office tasks as required, for keys collected from your local KeyCentre, or for jobs cancelled after 17:00 the business day prior to due day.​
Miscellaneous Access *
First 30 mins
Extra 30 mins
One-off access,
Premises Check/Lock-up**
£35
£35


* All prices exclude VAT and are correct as at Nov 07.
** Price shown is for one-off access only. Regular contractual work will be quoted separately.

Most companys advertise there prices bud

http://www.mklsecurity.co.uk/key-holding.htm
 
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Lietuvis said:
Hi,everyone,
I want to get some info on key-holding and alarm response services.
Does anyone here provides/uses this service?
I would like to know what is approximate price and conditions of this service.

I see lot of company's providing this service,but never saw response from aether of them.. No patrol arriving or anything?

Most company's don't even have alarm control room,or whatever you call it..

Any information , forms , price lists, procedures, policies would be appreciated..
Anything that could assist me and give clear image of this service :)
Click to expand...

I use /have used companies across europe for this, prices vary according to the level of service you agree to/amount of business you give them, Anywhere from £250-600 PA, with callout fees ranging from £45 for intial callout and then £25-£55 ph thereafter again depending on site and level of risk. wether dogs are in attendance with the keyholding firm or not.
Keyholding firms have to follow a strict set of legislation, and guideance from ACPO/BSIA etc Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 (c. 16) - Statute Law Database uk law statute database, Private Security Industry Act Information security resources info , IPSA - The International Professional Security Association ipsa, BSIA;

this is for the keholding standards, i think i have most of these on PDF i will see if i can dig them out.

AS for REsponse, most companies will say they endevour to respond in 15-30 mins, however the probability of that is very slim in cities, in london avergae is about 1-2 hours before response, even if it has been reported as double knock. A couple of firms are using bikes now as they are often quicker.

Then you have to work out if you want to become an ARC or just stay as a keyholding firm, in todays day and age wear there are a lot of companies operating covering the same features you will have to try and offer as many services as possible under the umbrella of keyholding. G4 are doing very well with this at present as are Secom PLc, in actual fact offering the complete solution is best as those i have mentioned have done installation, maintaining, ARC, keyholding, timeband monitoring, CCTV monitioring etc etc, MY MY it is big can of worms which to be honest i have been looking at in various countries for a number of years.

Hope this helps if you need anymore PM me
 
thx a lot all info was usefull :)
none of local companys seems to give info on the phone..
So thx a million everyone , for clear image :)

P.S.
15-30minutes? Is this a joke?
In lithuania it takes about 5 minutes to respond,if company does not it must pay all loses to the client...
maybe they should have more patrols on the streets :)
 
Problem is Manpower, they might only have 3cars and 2 bike to cover london. 70 clients in that area. If they get called out to activations they can only be in one place at a time, with the amount of breakins in london it is hardly surprising that the times are not adequate. Saying that ACPO say that a keyholder should live within 20mins of site. 5 mins is not achievable in london or even manchester/glasgow etc in busy cities where there are large amounts of alarmed premises using these services, and the amount of false alarms there are per night. These compnaies have to look at it from an operationla point worst case is that they have quiet nights with no activations manpower sat around thumbs up bums. Cost to income ratio says manpower not needed considering they only make money when called out. hence they only have a few people on duty. G4 have a large amount of clients in the M25 area and a lot of people on shifts covering these activations but still fine line between providing an effective service and maintaining a profitable arm of the buisness.
 
Yeah true , but if you are doing this do it right.. :)
Besides what will they do , i mean security when they arrive to your spot??
If its broken in? Not?

Key-holding says that they hold your keys (Name says it)
Do they really hold them? Or are they issued one at the offices?
 
Basically keyholding is
1/Point of contact for the police ie theft/alarm reset etc
2/Onsite checks when above is required
3/Decission to inform owner ie if its a false alarm the owner need not be called at 3am
4/Security cover untill bording up service has secured building
5/Detain or apprehend burglars or vandals as the police call out may not be available
 
yes they can hold your keys however the security do not know which is which, they are all numbered in a locked cabinet inside the van etc or at an office, the recieving centre then tells the security the number of the keys to get (they are the only ones with that number), they break the seal which is numbered and then once replaced in the unti they reseal it, they have to account for each seal that theyuse thatnight and it must corresponde with the callout sheets. If there is a break in then as marcus said. There is an option for them to be an escort only service wherby they meet the designated keyholder onsite at a pre arranged time.
Some companies want there keyholders to be notified even if it is a false alarm, just incase it might be a come on. (this has happened in the past where someone has set the system off and the security has then been attacked at site once the premises has been opened).
 
Lietuvis said:
Isn't it illegal to detain someone in UK ? :eek:
Click to expand...

Nope anybody can make a citizens arrest

Power of Arrest

· Sections 24 and 25 and of PACE are replaced by a new section 24 and section 24A – as amended by sections 110 & 111 and Schedule 7 of SOCAPA.
· The effect of the changes is to replace the concept of seriousness with a test of necessity. From 1 January 2006, all offences will carry the power of arrest. A lawful arrest will require two elements:

- a person’s involvement or suspected involvement or attempted involvement in the commission of a criminal offence

AND

- Reasonable grounds for believing that then person’s arrest is necessary

· The necessity criteria are set out in detail in paragraphs 2.4 to 2.9 of PACE Code G. The criteria are that the arrest is necessary to:

- obtain the name and/ or address of the person and be satisfied with the information provided
- prevent the person in question:

(i) causing physical injury to himself or any other person;
(ii) suffering physical injury ;
(iii) causing loss or damage to property;
(iv) committing an offence against public decency; or
(v) causing an unlawful obstruction of the highway;

- protect a child or other vulnerable person from the person in question
- allow the prompt and effective investigation of the offence or of the
conduct of the person in question
- to prevent any prosecution for the offence from being hindered by the
disappearance of the person in question.

· When considering the need to arrest the officer should take the following into account; the situation of the victim; the nature of the offence; the circumstances of the offender and the needs of the investigation.
· Arrest must never be used simply because it can be used. The use of the power must be fully justified and officers exercising the power should consider whether the necessary objectives can be met by other, less intrusive means, such as summons, fixed penalty notice, penalty notice for disorder; or by using street bail following arrest rather than taking the person to the police station. Recording requirements are set out in section 4 of Code G.
 
To be honest we have quite a lot of power when it comes to making an arrest, it just depends if you know the LAW correctly, as a private Citizen you have more powers of detentin than the PCSO's that are floating around. Do not get me started on them, i am walking away from my soap box now.
 
Hello Lietuvis

It seems you are not very happy with the circumstances you find your self in, may I suggest a career change
 
Keyholding is usually combined with the job of mobile patrol... and various other menial tasks...
I recently have started working for a coy, who do this. I needed something for the winter months until the other work starts coming in. For some strange reason they wanted me to be a supervisor (it just means more paper work....)

I have to say the hours are very long, the money is patheticly low for the amount of risk which could be involved. The hours make the wages up but you really do have to put the hours in, averaging at around 73 hours at the moment a week mainly night shifts!

You work alone, attend alarm shouts and having to enter the buildings to see if there is an intruder. As well as mobile patroling other sites that want mobile lock ups etc - so many visits per night by the officer working that night, there is usually around 40 site checks and around 10 - 15 lock ups to do . Oh and I get to drive a van with a safe in... and have to carry a bunch of keys around like a jailer. Due to new regulations they have to be all attached on together. Personally I think it is a stupid idea if someone does a follow and klonks me on the head, they then have access to all of the keys and all of the info on all of te sites and the rest of the keys in the safe... easy pickings for someone.

I also have to attend sites, and do risk asessments if a guard deems it unsafe to do a patrol, I have to go and see if it is unsafe etc and write it up - this is a very basic H & S reports, as well as sort out officers who can't be bothred to turn up for duties as they would rather be getting drunk in a pub, and get their girlfriends to ring in!!! I also get to attend supervisory visits to sites and make reports in relation to HR etc and conduct, appearence.

Its not too bad when its dry and cold but when it rains, its horrendous. Drowned rat springs to mind...Apart from sites that are reqired to be locked down and secured at particular times, mainly business sites. Sites can be anywhere and always expect the unexpected... even badgers chasing you across sites... lol
I pretty much work to my own schedule. Its not my career choice but it will tide me over for a few months and it pays the bills....

Regards

;)
 
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